


Somewhere over the Rainbow, Horizons Meet

by rebel_raven



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: (How is that a tag?), Adventures, And is successful, Armin almost passes out due to seeing the ocean, But also far too overprotective, Canon-Typical Violence, Drunkenness, Eren is surprisingly good at swimming, Everyone is so done with Levi and Eren, F/M, Fluff, Gore, Graphic Violence, Hange plays matchmaker, Hanji and Armin are evil genuises, It is not a good idea, Jean is a bro but still an ass, Levi and Eren are so clueless, Levi can't swim, M/M, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Related, Mikasa is a bro, Mike is not dead, Moblit is such a dear to put up with them, More than one or two ethnicities/races, Never leave the two of them alone, Nightmares, Ocean living, Oceans, PTSD, People in colonies, Plans are laid and then go to shit, Psychological Trauma, These Idiots, at all, everyone is aged up, just a little bit, lots of gore, many times, non-binary Hange, period, poor eren, protective!Levi, sick!Eren, so much ptsd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-04-28 00:08:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5070235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebel_raven/pseuds/rebel_raven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a plan. Take back another section of the wall, using Eren's hardening abilities to seal another gap and if possible, make a new gullitine. That didn't happen. There were complications, namely a pack of abnormals that chased them from the even relative safety of the wall and then Squad Levi, Erwin and Hanji included, had to move deeper into open, unknown country. Oh what a lovely, shitty rainbow. Only, there is a very big pot of gold at the end of that shitty rainbow. A very wet, salty pot of blue gold that stretches for miles, for days. And wait... What were those platforms? And those figures moving?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oliver_Ravenwood](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oliver_Ravenwood/gifts).



> So I found this prompt on tumblr and fell in love with it. It is going to be a monster to write, like a few of my other writings but I plan to finish it. If you have read my other work, you know that all of it is unbeta'd and so if there are any changes to the plot outside of grammar, spelling and things of that nature, please do comment and tell me! Same goes for if you see any mistakes and I shall correct them with all speed. I have not abandoned my other fic thats in the works at the current moment, just taking a small break. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this before Christmas. Joy! Anyways, I hope you like my work, and as always, comments and kudos are much loved. Also, this si the first time I've ever written anything for this fandom, no matter how much I adore it and yes this first chapter is a bit fast but there are going to be all that is referenced in the tags soon, don't worry. Also, sorry if this sucks. On with the story!  
> Wait, I lied.  
> DISCLAIMER!!!!!  
> I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN. ALL CHARACTERS AND PLOT BELONG TO CREATORS. I OWN NOTHING, aside from the original characters. I OWN NOTHING.  
> Okay, now on with the story! I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> -RR
> 
> (Also, this chapter is merely a place holder. I will add to it and fill out the plot by the next time I update, I promise. Sorry if it's a bit fast but It wanted to get to the meat of the work instead of dragging on and on with their trip to the ocean. the best part is when they get there.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi's journal entry from roughly a week and half into the mission that had gone so horribly horribly wrong. Luckily, no one was dead. Yet.

To say that the plan had gone off without a hitch would be a lie. Hell, to say that any part of the plan had gone over well would have been an even bigger lie. No, we were all in this massive fuck up of a plan, being chased by Titans and running low on food. Not to fucking mention, the brat was getting sick and he was not going to let me help him. For the love of all my sanity, which I am seriously questioning at this point, I was hoping for a goddamn miracle, and with my luck, that was not going to happen any time soon. Joy. Joy of joys. Fuck. Well, the plan was a good one, to start with. But then shit hit the wall and there was nothing I could do. Erwin called the retreat but we were blocked off by a swarm; I'm not even sure how many abnormals there were in that one group. Or that they could gather in such large, fucking coordinated groups. I thought Hanji was going to pass out from sheer joy, Moblit had a hell of a time keeping them from stopping to observe them or to do anything else that was incredinly fucking stupid. Fuck. Shit, we've stopped for the night, roughly a day and a halfs ride from the forest and southern villages, away from any known territory and we have no medicine, nor herbs. We can't even light a fire and Eren is shaking too hard. I told him he was pushing himself too much lately but he wouldn't listen. Tch. So troublesome. Shit, he's passing out. I'll continue this when I'm not fending off his insane sister or having to play nurse.


	2. The End of One and Beginning of Another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The start of the mission hadn't been too bad, but then they never are. It's only when things are too far south that you realize you've fucked up. There is a body count that almost rivals the first mission the 104th had gone on when they were greenhorns, and when Erwin fired the retreat and regroup signal, only those in the left and center had seen it, but not enough to save them from the grisly fate of titan chow. And where did the abnormals come from??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I found this prompt on tumblr and fell in love with it. It is going to be a monster to write, like a few of my other writings but I plan to finish it. If you have read my other work, you know that all of it is unbeta'd and so if there are any changes to the plot outside of grammar, spelling and things of that nature, please do comment and tell me! Same goes for if you see any mistakes and I shall correct them with all speed. I have not abandoned my other fic thats in the works at the current moment, just taking a small break. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this before Christmas. Joy! Anyways, I hope you like my work, and as always, comments and kudos are much loved. On with the story!  
> Wait, I lied.  
> DISCLAIMER!!!!!  
> I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN. ALL CHARACTERS AND PLOT BELONG TO CREATORS. I OWN NOTHING, aside from the original characters. I OWN NOTHING.  
> Okay, now on with the story! I hope you enjoy!
> 
> -RR

_The plan had turned to shit. And not in the fast, oh shit we messed up big or even the usual way that might have been saved by a few backup contingency plans because Erwin was a paranoid man, but a smart man. No, it was a slow build. A terribly slow build that started the moment the Survey Corps left the gates. Well, maybe this should start from the beginning. Which, hard to believe, was two fucking weeks before they reached where they are right now and that was about a month and a half ago._  
_-_-_-

Eren stared at the mass of people lined up on either side of the road as the Survey Corps filed down the main streets of Wall Rose’s outer district. They were calling out as one, trying to gain the attention of either the corps in general or their “favorite soldiers” and get them to respond. Not that it ever worked, but it was a nice try. It was spring, the morning warm but cold wind promising rain later, meaning everyone had at least one set of raingear. With what routinely happens out there, there was no second chance. You mess up once or forget a piece of gear and you are fucked. Eren sighed, shaking his head. That and the many rules that Squad Levi had in general…

Well, there was no way that anyone could forget. There were people calling out his name and surprisingly, no swears or slurs were attached to it. He turned his head just a little when he heard a high pitch voice and movement out of the corner of his eye and saw a young girl, dressed like a boy, her hair tied back in a braid and her front tooth missing, another barely seen to be growing in. She couldn’t have been older than six and stood on a crate so not to be swallowed by the crowd, but the moment he looked at her, she stopped waving and did a salute, smile wide and blue eyes so big Eren felt his heart melt, just a little.

He smiled, just a little. It was sad, and a little bit humbling, to be reminded of himself at such an age. When he thought the Survey Corps were the greatest, were invincible, even when they came back beaten and half of the troops eaten or missing limbs. He still took immense pride in what he did, everyone in the Corps did; but he knew that they were human. And the fact that the girl was saluting to him in particular caused mixed feelings. Even after four years of learning to control his ability, and granted they knew so much more about him then they did when he was a greenhorn, there was too much they didn’t understand. That the people couldn’t understand. Before, he was a monster, a mindless thing with human skin that left people scared for their lives. They swore at him, at one memorable occasion, someone threw a glass bottle at him just to get him out of the stores. If Mikasa had been with him instead of Jean and Levi, they would have had to add a body to Jean’s “unmilitary like behavior” and Levi’s threatening look. Eren just rolled with it and ignored the pain. Erwin had then assigned at least one member of Squad Levi to be with Eren at all times when they were off base. More often than not, it was Mikasa, Jean or Levi.

Now, they were calling out for him, a child had saluted him. They were calling him Humanity's Greatest Hope and without sarcasm or despair. He could feel, at all times, the weight that rested on his shoulders, on all of their shoulders. It was heavier than the boulder he had lifted the first time he shifted consciously, as if it were weighing down his upper body while his heart and mind fought to fly. It all hinged on the Corps. He could also feel, always, the insurmountable power just under his skin, beating in his heart. When Hanji had asked him to explain it one time, all Eren had been able to say was,

 _“It feels like there’s fire under my skin, but… It’s alive? And when I was younger, my skin either felt too tight, like I would burst out of it at any moment, or like parts of me weren’t there at all. I remember my dad saying something like that happened to amputees, how they felt like their limbs were still there, that they could feel them working and moving. When I was fifteen, I just thought it was from my hatred for the Titans and the single minded passion I had to wipe them all out.”_ Hanji had practically been drooling, and squealed, yes squealed, like they did when they saw his transformed arm for the first time. That and they were taking notes almost aggressively, firing off questions faster than Eren could answer.

“Oi, Eren. Get your head out of your ass.” Levi’s voice, just to his left, brought the teen back to Earth.

“Sorry, captain.” Eren said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“What were you thinking about so hard? You looked constipated for a minute there.” Eren cracked a smile. Even after four years, his captains strange way of asking if the squad was alright, if Eren himself was alright, hadn’t changed and still made him smile.

“I’m fine, sir. Just thinking of the plan.”

“Not to much to go over. Use your ability to deal with the breach in Maria, then ride out to the supply depots and make sure they’re all stocked. If possible, we survey the situation and see if creating another guillotine is possible and take count of how many Titans we can possibly kill in the immediate vicinities. We’re going to be gone for three days, so you’re not to stretch your abilities past your limits, understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. And your orders are the same as they always are; keep close to me as you can and don’t transform unless your life is in danger, there is no alternative or you’re ordered to.”

“Yes captain.”

“Good.” The man sighed and shook his head. Eren watched the thirty year old with caution; he knew how little sleep Levi got and how little he’d been getting in the recent week. No more than three hours, if it was a good night. He was awake at five, but Levi was already down at the table, slowly drinking his third or fourth mug of tea as he read. That made him prickly, easy to piss off but no less dangerous. If anything, it made him worse. Eren knew, however harsh he could be, however hard he pushed them in training or even in cleaning, that the captain cared deeply for his squad, though he had a strange way of showing it, it didn’t mean he cared any less. Pulled from his thoughts again, Eren turned when he felt eyes at the back of his head, catching Mikasa staring blankly, a look that could curdle milk, and possibly corral Hanji, on her face. But that wasn’t what made him slow his mare down so they were only a few feet apart. Mikasa looked zoned out, something that just didn’t happen to the woman. Ever.

“Mikasa? Are you alright?” She blinked, then nodded, tugging the scarf at her neck. By now, Eren was surprised it wasn’t threadbare. Or filthy. But then again, it was Mikasa and the twenty year old was quite attached to Eren, and kept the scarf almost immaculate.

“I’m fine. Just thinking.”

“What about?” Mikasa spurred her horse so she was closer to her brother and levelled a glare at the back of Levi’s head.

“Mikasa. Calm down, would you?” Eren sighed, huffing a laugh. His sister’s antics were the same as they always were. Even though Levi and Mikasa had figured out they were related, first cousins actually, meaning they were literal blood, that hadn’t stopped the woman from being outright hostile anytime she saw Levi or even had to talk to him outside missions. Hell, even during missions, Eren had seen the pair verbally attack each other in ways that would destroy a lesser person. Not to mention, it was so out of character for either of them that it always proved interesting. Levi, unsurprisingly, won most of those before he got Mikasa to focus back on the mission.

‘ _Well, at least they don’t try to kill one another. That’s always something._ ’ Eren thought with a grim smile.

“It’s his fault.” was all she said. Eren rolled his eyes and punched his sister’s shoulder, startling Mikasa from her one sided glaring contest.

“Calm down, would you?”

“Why? It’s his fault-”

“Mikasa, not now. He’s your cousin. We don’t have a lot of family left, so please try to be at least civil around Levi.” Mikasa rolled her eyes but stopped glaring. She rode beside Eren as long as she could before they had to travel single file. Commander Erwin, then Mike, Hanji, Moblit, Levi, Eren himself, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and the rest of the Survey Corps. The crowd became silent as the bells began to toll, following with bated breath as the gates slowly creaked then began to rise.

“THIS MARKS THE 117th EXCURSION OVER THE WALL BY THE SURVEY CORPS.” Erwin shouted, voice carrying. “WE WILL RECLAIM WHAT WAS OURS.” Just then, the gate opened all the way and on an unspoken command, they moved as one, spurring their horses into a trot then a canter, distance being eaten way in long, smooth strides, the tolling of the bells following them with the cries of the crowd.

Eren could feel something like a manic grin beginning to form; he knew it was kind of wrong, but the feeling of riding out to the unknown excited him, sending jolts of lightning down his spine and through his body. Slowly, steadily, the groups split into the flanks, Squad Levi, Hanji, Mike, Moblit and Erwin leading the Central group. They rode for hours, splitting occasionally into smaller groups when more open ground came, and the constant fear of Titans suddenly appearing gnawed away at them. Erwin, Mike, Hanji, Moblit, Connie, Sasha and few other members of the group suddenly split out and away, Connie and Sasha following Hanji.

“We’ll keep this formation until we need to regroup!” Erwin called, receiving affirmatives from the group before he left, pulling ahead with Mike and three others.

“Hey, Armin! Remind me again why Erwin is with us?!” Eren shouted over the galloping of his horse about an hour later, the cold wind blasting them full in the face. The blonde startled, looking at Eren as if he had just dragged him from a deep thought process before he answered,

“Because he’s the one who can lead! Erwin’s been on plenty of missions outside the wall, and even if Mike’s taken over the Corps, Erwin still has a lot of say.”

“Yeah, but he can’t fight!” Eren snapped back. He knew the man was an awesome fighter when it came down to it but he couldn’t do much with his gear. It took two arms to operate and unlike Eren, he couldn’t regenerate limbs. Since that fateful day, Erwin had only gone on one or two missions outside the wall, instead operating the Corps from behind his desk and dealing with politics.

“If it comes to fighting, why do you think that he’s with us? We have you and Captain Levi, not to mention Mikasa. We’re the strongest squad! And besides, Commander Erwin is a tactical genius. I may be smart Eren but I can’t think with years of experience! We’ve been fighting for four years! Erwin’s been doing this for ten years or more! And besides, we’re lucky we haven’t encountered any Titans for the last four hours. I wonder what’s going on, this is unnatural, even for them.”

“Yeah, okay! Sheesh, don’t go off on a- Shit! Captain! Black smoke! An Abnormal on our right flank! Closing fast!”

“What?! Why didn’t the right flank signal? Why was it just the group closest to us?” Jean yelled, pulling up so he was closer in formation. Mikasa hunched up further, her eyes becoming daggers as she spurred her horse so she was now nearly beside Eren.

“They must have been wiped out somehow!” Armin called back.

“But the last Titan that took out an entire flank was Annie and she’s still stuck in the crystal underground!” Eren yelled back, the beginnings of rain starting to slap them in the face.

“Eren, fire the signal! Mikasa, Jean, relay the information to the squads up ahead! Hanji and Mike’s squads haven’t seen the signals yet!” Levi ordered, turning his head only slightly to be heard, pulling his hood up over his head.

“Sir!” all three chorused, Eren fumbling for a second to get the right signal flare before firing off the black round. Jean and Mikasa spurred their horses onwards, the animals starting to lather in sweat and rain, and peeled away. Eren watched in baited breath as his friends disappeared. Hanji’s squad had Connie and Sasha in it, along with Moblit and one or two others that Eren hadn’t met. Mike had Erwin and three others.

‘ _Please let us make it through this in one piece…_ ’ Eren though desperately before he heard Armin yell,

“Sir! There’s more than one!”

“What?!” Levi snapped, turning fully now.

“There’s two… Three… Four… There’s six total, sir!”

“They’re travelling in packs? Shit.” Levi turned back, leaning so he was almost level with his horse’s neck. “Alright, we keep our pace. If we can, we make it to the forest up ahead and mount a counter attack. If we can’t, you two will rendezvous with Erwin and Hanji, leave them to me.”

“Captain, that’s suicide!” Eren yelled back, pulling up so he was almost level with the smaller man.

“Eren, don’t-”

“I’m sorry sir, and you can clap me in irons or whatever you want when we return to base but I’ll be damned if we leave you behind!” Armin nodded in agreement, a grim look settling over his face, coming to terms with possibly dying in the next few minutes.

Levi sighed, shaking his head and grumbling,

“Stupid, shitty brats. I’m your commanding officer and you won’t listen to orders. I’m going to pile on so much punishment when we get back, you’ll wish I _was_ dead.”

“Well, you’ll have to live for the day then, sir.” Armin yelled back. There was the sound of galloping and Jean reappeared, looking half terrified and more than a little bit sick. There was blood on the side of his face. Eren felt his stomach drop. Titan blood evaporated That meant Jean had seen two members get eaten, their blood painting what the rain couldn’t erase.

“Captian Levi, Hanji’s squad has lost two members! They said that they were going to regroup with Commander Mike and Commander Erwin’s squad!”

“Fine! Get ready, we’re going to have to pull a fast one and get the hell out of here. Did they say where Erwin was headed?”

“They told me Commander Erwin was going towards the forest!”

“Right. Make for the forest! Eren, stay close!” Eren looked back over his shoulder, expecting to hear the rumblings from behind. Instead, they came from beside, shaking the ground.

“Sir! Three more Titans on our left flank!” Jean yelled as he took his position. Eren could see the cogs turning in the man’s head, practically hear the thoughts racing through his mind.

“Tch. I hope I don’t regret this…” Eren heard before Levi turned to look at him over his shoulder.

“Eren, can you do it?”

“Sir?”

“We can’t outrun these sons of bitches easily, not without killing our horses. The forest is still too far for me to safely assume we can make it and launch an attack. Can you take down these titans using your titan form?” It wasn’t so much a question of _if he could_ , so much as it was a question of _if he was willing_.

“Yes sir!”

“Up ahead are some run down buildings, half destroyed. You head in that direction, leave your horse and gear there. Armin! Go with him and make sure you’re hidden until Eren gets rid of the Titans. Jean, you and I are going to be bait. You ready?” It was a question to the whole group.

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Good, now move out!” Eren and Armin split off as Jean moved so he and Levi were nearly abreast as the duo sped forwards, the rain coming down harsher and harsher.

“Eren, are you sure-” Armin asked, taking into account Eren's paler than usual skin and deep, dark bags under his eyes.

“I’ll be fine, Armin! Trust me, they’re only two ten meters, another five meter, an eight meter and a four meter. Plus the three other six meters. This is going to be easy. Watch Fable.” Eren slowed his mare to a trot then a halt as they came upon a mostly standing building, made of wood and stone, the roof made of wooden slats instead of thatch. Eren dismounted, handing Armin his ODM gear and pulling off his rain coat. Immediately, he was soaked, hair plastered to his skull as his clothes clung to him, and the belts were going to cinch when they dried, Eren just knew it. But he could worry about that later.

“Armin, try to get inside the building and stay hidden, okay?” the blonde nodded, feeling a little useless but he couldn’t really care, seeing as it was either be temporarily useless and live, or be stupid and die. Armin was able to coax both his stallion and Eren’s mare into the building, which turned out to be a kind of barn, before he tied them loosely to different posts. It was tight enough that they wouldn’t be able to run but loose enough that he needed, Armin could pull sharply and the knots would come undone and he could ride out, gear and horses in hand.

He moved to the shadow of the doorway, watching as Eren bit the side of his thumb, the blinding light and smoke appearing before there was a scream of rage and Eren’s titan form took off, legs eating up distance. Levi and Jean must have noticed because they swiftly altered their course, doubling back before they peeled apart, coming at the dilapidated group of buildings before Levi swiftly altered course, heading back to Eren’s battle. Jean spun his horse on its hindquarters, making the mare rear for a second before taking off in Levi’s direction. Levi made a gesture of some kind apparently because Jean stopped, staring, before he took off in Armin’s direction.

“Jean!” He called out soon as the other man was in range.

“The Captain decided to stay near Eren in case he needed help. He said to tell you to get ready the moment Eren kills the last titan because then we’re going to ride like hell to get out to them and then meet up with Erwin and Hanji, if they made it to the forest.”

Armin nodded and watched in a quiet awe as Eren bit the nape out of one of the ten meter titans, kicking one of the five meters so hard it’s head flew off. Immediately after, his foot struck the weak spot, spitting out the now rotting corpse of the first ten meter. The remaining titans began to swarm him, trying to rip into hunks of his body, but Eren simply punched, bit and kicked, a mass of limbs under the drenching rain and horrible bodies of the titans. Finally, after what could have only been ten minutes but what felt like a year, the final titan fell to the ground, nothing more than a steaming corpse that was quickly turning into a skeleton. Eren's titan body had sustained enough damage that he was steaming, the few chunks of flesh regenerating as his foot slowly regenerated from bone. Levi rode closer and Jean nodded to Armin, who grabbed his horse, Wren, and Fable, before Jean took Eren’s gear and the pair rode out. It would take them at least five minutes, even at a good clip, to reach the pair, with the extra horse and Jean weighted down by Eren’s ODM gear.

Armin kept a careful watch on the surrounding area, knowing how often it was that titans were spotted and how unbelievably lucky that they had gotten thus far. They were outside the walls, for the first time in a year. To have so few casualties, by their standards at least, and Eren only having to transform the once, it was almost unnatural. But still. He and Jean watched as Eren kneeled in front of Levi, looking almost like a dog begging for a treat as the captain seemed to be speaking. Suddenly, Eren stood, looking around like he had heard something. He pointed off to the left, where another group of titans were, what looked like, speed walking before one started to jump, taking bounding leaps and it would be upon them in moments.

Eren didn’t hesitate; he sprinted, leaving deep, gouging marks in the wet earth, before he pulled an arm back, hand turning into a fist as he came closer and closer. As the grey haired beast came close enough, Eren suckerpunched it in the jaw, the head flying clean off before he stepped on the sweet spot numerous times, crushing it beneath his heel. The other two were right behind the first but Eren set himself up in a defensive position, fists raised and knees bent. As he fought, Armin and Jean finally made it to Levi, who was staring silently at the ensuing fight.

“Captain?” Armin ventured and when he received no answer, went ahead, “We need to get Eren out of his titan form, sir, as soon as we can. He can’t take much more of the body heat his titan form gives off. Any longer and he’ll start to meld into the skin.” Levi nodded once. It had been almost twenty-five minutes since Eren took on his titan form but Armin wasn’t entirely worried about the length of time he had been in that form. No, he was worried about Eren’s health. He roomed with his best friend, a compromise that had been established three and a half years ago. Armin would sleep in the same room as Eren and while he may have at least one hand shackled, at least he was in an actual room by that point.

Seeing as how Armin woke up at dawn anyways, never able to sleep past five or six in the morning if he was lucky, he would wake Eren and unshackle the boy then they would get started on the days cleaning before training then back to cleaning, or food, etc. And as he roomed with the other teen, he knew for a fact that Eren hadn’t been sleeping. He made breakfast for them most mornings while the teen started tea and took it out to the captain, keeping the man company. Armin had known Eren for years, since they were children. He knew exactly how Eren ate, which was enough to feed one and half people. And now that he had a faster metabolism due to his titan form, he could eat enough for two, or on days he had been testing endurance with Hanji and the squad, three people.

Lately, Eren hadn’t been eating nearly enough. He would pick at his food and slowly put scraps on Sasha’s plate, making it look like he was eating but Armin saw. Eren was pushing past his physical limits if he stayed in titan form much longer and if he didn’t get out soon… Armin shook his head.

‘ _I won’t think like that. Eren is just getting a little sick. After this, he’ll sleep and catch up on what he’s been missing. I think the nightmares have been keeping him up lately…_ ’ Armin was brought back to reality when Jean breathed out a sigh.

“What?”

“Eren just took down the last ti-” He was cut off, Eren’s titan body falling to it’s knees, body steaming as the rain fell.

“Tch. So bothersome.” Was all he heard from Levi before the man had activated his ODM gear, the spikes imbedding themselves in Eren’s upper shoulder and back, the captain quickly cutting the teen out of the nape and hauling Eren up and out. The steaming body fell on its face, quickly decomposing to a skeleton but Armin and Jean were already cantering to the duo, Levi landing gracefully, arms fully of gangly limbs.

“Oi, oi! Brat! Hey, Eren!” Levi called as he gently shook his shoulders, slapping at his face to get a response. 

“Mhnm…” The teen groaned, brilliantly green-blue eyes fluttering open before he winced, holding his head.

“Ooowwwwww….” he moaned, rubbing at the marks under his eyes with his thumbs as his fingers rubbed harshly at his skull. Levi “tched” before he asked,

“Can you stand?” Eren nodded, slowly pushing himself upwards but Armin could see him shaking even as he got to his knees. After a few terse moments, Eren managed to stand with Levi’s support before he took a staggering step forwards, then another and another before he promptly fell into Armin, who dismounted to help his friend onto Fable.

“Eren!” Levi snapped, obviously annoyed and worried. But Armin was simply pissed at this point and shook his friend several times by the shoulders.

“How many times did I tell you that you were going to wind up like this, huh? How many god damn times? Christ, Eren! You expect the latest binge you’ve been on with so little sleep and food is healthy?! Not to mention, I know for a fact that you’ve been going past your limits in Hanji’s experiments!”

“What.” Levi glared at the younger male who rubbed his neck sheepishly.

“I swear, I’m fine! Nothing is wrong-”

“Eren.” Levi cut him off with a glare. “You are not alright. You’re bleeding from your nose again and you’re not healing as quickly. The marks under your eyes take no more than two minutes to disappear and they haven’t. So, no. You’re really not okay.” Jean dismounted his horse, Maleficent, and attached Eren’s ODM gear to his hips quickly and efficiently.

“There, now if we have to use it, you won’t be dead weight Yeager.” Eren nodded, grateful. Levi reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a clean white cloth.

“So bothersome.”

“I’m sorry, Levi.”

“Shut up, Eren.” The captain sighed, shaking his head as he held the cloth to Eren’s face before the man could get the strength to raise his arm and hold it there himself.

“We can’t wait around in this forever. Can you ride?” Eren pushed himself off of Armin slowly, still holding the cloth to his nose and nodded, though his legs were still shaking too badly to really hold him up.

“Eren, got on my horse.” Levi sighed, mounting his stallion before holding out a hand.

“Sir?”

“We don’t have time to waste with you practically dead on your feet. And yes, Yeager, that is a goddamn order. Now get up here.”

“Yes, Captain Levi.” he mumbled, Jean helping him get up behind Levi and throwing his rain jacket over him.

“No good if you’re sick too.” before Jean took Fable and tethered her to his horse and Armin mounted his own horse again. When Eren had gotten himself situated and Levi was sure that he wasn’t going to fall off any time soon, they took off, the driving rain lightening up just a little bit. Levi could usually feel Eren’s insane body heat even through his clothes but this time, the boy felt hotter, hotter than he ever had before.

‘ _Shit, he’s getting sick…_ ’ was Levi’s first thought, then ‘ _We need to make it to the forest... I’ll worry about everything else there, when we have a group._ ’ The plan had very obviously gone terribly wrong. First, thrown off course by the abnormals and the drenching rain. Now, even if they made it back to the wall before the end of the mission, there was no guarantee that Eren would have enough strength to even plug the hole. This was incredibly shitty. They rode in relative silence for another half hour before the forest came into view. At some point, Levi started to feel Eren shaking almost violently but he was obviously trying to control it. At least the rain had stopped, though it didn’t make it any less cold.

“Captain, I can see Hanji and Mikasa in the trees!” Armin shouted, pointing. It seemed the pair had spotted the group as well, having swung down the moment Armin said that. Mikasa was on her horse and galloping towards them, Hanji right on her heels, a serious face for once on their face.

“Levi!” Hanji cried, looking relieved as they drew near.

“Shitty four eyes.” he nodded, before wriggling his shoulders a little trying to rouse Eren without shifting the younger male too much.

“Mnh?”

“Wake up. We made it.”

“Oh. That’s good…” he opened his eyes, barely focused on anything. Mikasa rode forward, worry almost palpable.

“Eren?”

“Oh, hey Mikasa.”

“Can you stand?” Armin asked as Eren slowly dismounted, leaning a little on Levi’s horse as he did so before he nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine-” he fell, eyes rolling up to the back of his head.

“Fuck!” Levi practically threw himself off his horse to get to Eren as Mikasa gasped before copying his movement, hitting the ground and running to her unconscious brother.

“Levi, what happened?” Hanji demanded as Levi hoisted his charge upwards over his shoulder, grunting.

“Well, we ran into a few groups of Abnormals and Eren had to fight them. And apparently the shitty brat hasn’t been eating or sleeping as well as he should-”

“So he was pulling a ‘you’, Levi? I thought that happened after someone was in a relationship that they adopted another’s traits…” Hanji mused before they were cut off by Levi’s intense glare.

“And he wore himself out, fighting too hard and too many. There were about nine or ten of them. Also, get his gear off; it’s unnecessary weight.” Mikasa helped take the maneuver gear off, placing it in front of her on her horse while Hanji seemed lost in thought before they caught the word nine.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait…. _Nine_!? _Nine_ ABNORMALS at _ONCE_??!!”

“Yes, Hanji. I’ll tell you more when we meet up with Erwin as well, got it? Christ, we need to get Eren someplace high and relatively dry. Before more titans catch up with us. How many did we lose?” Levi asked as Mikasa grudgingly allowed Levi, without too much glaring anyways, to mount his horse and pull Eren up after him, placing the nineteen year old in front of him as he controlled Taurus with his knees.

“We lost Ivan and Gina, at least from Hanji’s squad. I think a majority of the right and left flanks too, since they haven’t regrouped here. We can’t make it back, not right now. The vanguard that was sent to Wall Maria to see if we could retake it, or if we could even reach the gate came back with three people from the six sent. Reg, Mina, and Anya. They said there were abnormals everywhere. Commander Erwin sent them to join with the other closest squad. I don't know what happened to Lulu or Hannah, from Commander Mike's squad.” Mikasa reported. “We haven’t lost anyone from my squad, at least until I left. I don’t know. Commander Erwin told me to rejoin Hanji.”

“Hmn. Where is his group now?”

“Deeper in the forest, just on the other side. There’s a supply house out there, one of the few this far out anyways. We can gather what we need there and rethink the plan.” Levi nodded once and they set off at a steady canter straight through the forest, everyone on high alert for what could be a potential attack. Finally, after a tense hour and half of near silent riding, they reached the edges of the forest before bursting through to a setting sun.

“Holy shit, how long have we been out here?” Jean mumbled, shielding his eyes.

“Well, given that we left at seven this morning, about an entire day.” Armin supplied, looking a little dazed. Even in the past, they hadn’t been out for longer than half a day, returning maybe an hour or two before sunset. Long missions were risky, not to mention fraught with more danger than even the Recon Corps would want to handle on a monthly basis.

“Up there, that stone building.” Hanji pointed their blade to the medium sized tower like building. It was a store house with a tall, twenty meter tower on the edge; the Corps had found it abandoned on one of their earliest, longest running missions with the ODM gear. Three days. They had holed up there for three days and left supplies in the store house. Surprisingly, they had been able to maintain it well enough that it could be used in situations like this. Too far from any of the villages to get food supplies and too far from the walls for safety. Jean whistled, low and impressed.

“Damn, we did good.” Armin gave him a look but the man simply shrugged and looked around once more. No matter what, they were in danger and they needed to get there as fast as possible. Levi kicked his horse into a gallop, the others following his lead and they reached the outpost in record time. Erwin was waiting outside, coat wrapped around his shoulders and parring blade drawn. He relaxed when he saw the group approach and sheathed the blade.

“What took so long?”

“Abnormals.” Levi stated, dismounting and pulling Eren off with him.

“What happened to Eren?” Erwin sounded alarmed, his feet almost sliding in the wet grass in his haste to get to his shorter friends side.

“He pushed himself too much and passed out because he hasn’t been eating or sleeping enough, according to Armin. And he’s been allowing Shitty Glasses over there to let them run experiments non stop.”

“Not all the time! Just until he really is at his limit and I force him to rest.” they tried to defend themselves but Erwin simply gave the scienctist a look and they sighed, pushing their goggles up and rubbing their eyes.

“Yeah, I know. Come on, let’s just get him inside. He needs sleep and food.”

“And medicine. He’s sick.” Levi added, sharing the burden on Eren’s heavy body with Hanji. Jean took Mikasa’s horse and simply said,

“Go on, I’ll look after Benton.” She gave Jean a smile, small and genuine, making his heart beat faster. Armin chuckled at his friends face and shook his head.

“What are you laughing about?” Jean demanded and Armin shrugged.

“Nothing. Now let’s get these guys fed. They deserve all we can find.” Jean nodded, Armin taking his and Levi’s horse as Erwin grabbed Hanji and Eren’s. The trio made their way to the little overhang that had been fashioned into a stable, tying the horses to their posts and loosening the girths. Erwin grabbed the small bale of hay and Armin rushed over to help.

“I’ve got it, Armin.” Erwin tried to day but Armin shook his head viciously.

“No, it’s heavy and even with two arms, I have trouble.” He gasped when he said that and started stammering out apologies, practically tripping over himself to apologize. Erwin sighed and smiled,

“You’d be surprised how used to it I am by now.” Armin stopped speaking as Erwin continued.

“Four years is a long time to get used to having only one limb. Still feel a bit strange waking up and not realizing it’s there. In my thirty-six years, I always imagined myself either being eaten or dying, if I was ridiculously lucky, of old age.” Armin nodded and shouldered some more of the weight of the five foot bale.

“Hey, I got the horses settled for the night.” Jean interjected suddenly and Armin wasn’t sure if he was appreciative of this or not, but it broke the silence that had fallen over him and Erwin. Armin coughed and Jean shot him a look, first of confusion then a grin settling over his face. Oh, no. Nonononononono. Armin stoutly ignored his friend and Erwin, settling for breaking the bale soon as they could and feeding the horses before he practically fled the makeshift stable. He headed inside, and made it to the kitchen, his stomach moaning for food, before he was attacked by something with brown hair and wailed,

“ARMIN!!!!! I THOUGHT YOU AND MIKASA AND EREN AND JEAN AND CAPTAIN LEVI HAD BEEN EATEN BECAUSE IT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO GET BACK HERE!!!!!”

“Sasha, I… Can’t breathe!!!” Armin gasped before the young woman released him, a grin on her face despite the tears.

“Hey man, good to see that you’re okay. We saw Captain Levi and Hanji taking Eren to one of the rooms with a small cot. He okay?” Connie asked, coming in behind the energetic female. 

“No, not really. He’s been working too hard lately and got sick. We’re spending the night here and going over a new plan for the morning. Did any of the other squads make it back to the Wall?”

“Yes. Erwin fired the retreat and circled back to find you guys but then we were chased off course by a group of abnormals. Half the right flank was taken out. Mikasa found us then and she and I took down the two eight meters but by then we were closer to the forest so Erwin had Mikasa ride back to Hanji’s last known position and tell them to meet us at the forest. Apparently Jean was there as well and he rode back to tell Levi. So, this is great. We also lost Lulu and Hannah and Luke to the abnormals.” Mike’s voice interrupted Connie before the teen could answer. Armin would have snapped a salute but then his stomach gave a mighty growl and he blushed just a little.

“Go and eat, Armin.” Mike said, huffing a laugh from his nose before he smiled, a little. “Sasha, you and Connie can get some food together for those that just got here. And trust me, I know exactly how much there is, so don’t even think about eating more than your share.” He fixed Sasha with such a look the girl wilted, just a little and hid behind Connie.

“Come on, Sasha!” Connie laughed nervously, pulling her by her arm. Armin slumped down at the table and fell into a light sleep. He woke up with a crick in his shoulder but a plate of bread and dried out rations with a bit of stew sat in front of him.

“Eat up.” He looked over, seeing Erwin and, out of pure habit, went to salute, his brain still foggy with sleep. Erwin chuckled and said,

“Take it easy, Armin. I’m not really your Commander anymore. That’s Mike.”

“I know, sir, but you still have the rank and it’s rude-”

“Armin, you’re babbling again.”

“Sorry sir.” Erwin sighed and shook his head before pushing the food a little closer.

“Go on, eat. You need it, and if you refuse, I’m not above telling Mikasa about your missed meals to read in the library.” Armin reared back, indignanty almost a physical thing.

“You wouldn’t! She’d kill me if she thought I was skipping meals!”

“Exactly.” Erwin smirked and the blonde tore into his food, mostly out of hunger but also partly in fear that the older man would follow through on his threat. After he finished the small meal, he stopped and looked at the table, tracing the grain.

“How’s Eren?” Erwin studied the short male for a minute in silence, weighing his options before he settled on what he knew.

“He’s resting. Mikasa and Levi are watching him tonight, at least as long as they can stay awake. She seems to be protective of him to an almost obsessive level, doesn’t she?” Erwin mused aloud before Armin laughed, loud and startling. The bark alerted Erwin to the fact that he had in fact been thinking aloud and he almost apologized but Armin beat him to it.

“You don’t know the half of it! When we were kids, bullies would pick on me all the time because of my intellect and Eren and Mikasa would come to my rescue. Ha, I was so pathetic then" He paused, lost in thought. He looked up when he felt Erwin staring at him, an unreadable look on his face. "Er, anyways. When we were kids, Mikasa would rarely let us out of her sight, but Eren especially. One time, a group ganged up on him, and he was a shitty fighter but he was strong. But there were too many and he wound up getting the crap beaten out of him. When I found him, he was beaten black and blue; seven against one. When Mikasa found out, she was so angry I was surprised that she didn’t turn into a titan herself. She found each and every one of the bullies, most of them much older than us, and far stupider if I say so myself, and threatened them.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, they tried to intimidate her at first, but you heard at Eren’s trial why they had done to those men.” Erwin nodded and grew a little alarmed at the dark smile that passed over Armin’s usually, if not calm, nervously expressive face. “Let’s just say that she threatened to tear some important parts off, feed them back to the bullies and then eviscerate them.”

“...Really?” Armin laughed, a little bit less like the bark from before and much, much harder. More genuine.

“No, I was just pulling your leg. Though she did beat the shit out of them before she told them that if they came anywhere near Eren or myself again, then she really would caserte them and feed their balls to dogs.” Erwin paled just a little bit and Armin smiled, almost sweetly.

“So, yeah, you could say Mikasa is a little over protective of us. But it got worse when Eren’s mom got eaten. Mikasa followed Eren everywhere. When we were in the academy, when Eren was having trouble with his belts, Mikasa swore that she would follow him anywhere, even if it meant leaving the academy for the fields. We were all we had, growing up.” Armin fell silent for a short time, staring at the room blankly, obviously reliving memories before he snapped out of it and shook his head.

“A-Anyways, I doubt you want to hear my entire life story.” he gave a nervous chuckle before yawning.

“We should try to think of a good plan for the morning.” Erwin nodded, about to reply, when Moblit came running in, panic on his face.

“We have big trouble! There’s a group of titans coming this way! We have maybe fifteen minutes before they get here!” Erwin snapped into action, standing and running to the room where Eren was, calling over his shoulder,

“Armin, go and wake the others! We need food supplies, extra gas if we can manage it and a cart. And the horses need to be ready to go in under two minutes, understood!”

“Sir!” Armin was already moving, heading to one of the few rooms in the outpost that wasn’t worn down and in danger of caving in on itself.

“Guys, get up! We have an emergency!” It was impressive how fast the four sleeping figures got to their feet, instantly awake. Hanji was looking around, hand tightening on a parring blade that wasn’t there as Sasha took out a knife and Connie set himself in an offensive running position. Jean looked around, trying to see with the dim lighting.

“We have a group of titans coming right at us and we have about two minutes to get the horses ready and get the cart out. Sasha, you and Jean will deal with the horses. Hanji, you come with me to get the cart. Moblit is already getting supplies. Food and gas are pritority. If you can, get a couple of blankets and any extra gear but do it fast. Like, now!” Armin snapped, all traces of the nervous young man gone and replaced with a fierce, confident commander. The group ran out to do their assigned tasks, pulling on ODM gear as they went.

“Hanji, where’s a cart? One or two of us can ride in it with Eren while our horses pull it.” They thought for a second before nodding and pulling Armin along by his sleeve.

“Come on, just around back. We left a couple back when we came out this far. Their relatively new so there’s no need to worry about maintenance. Come on!” they burst through the back door where a standard sized, covered cart stood, with a light dusting of plant growing over top.

“We’ll worry about that later.” Armin said, gesturing to the plants. “Push!” They both got behind it, able to make it move a few scant inches before Hanji smacked their forehead and ran off for the stables, returning minutes later with Fable and Armin’s horse, Wren before they hooked the pair up and led them around to where Moblit had begun to stack the most lasting food, Connie grabbing spare tanks of gas and gear.

“Load up as much as you can, but not enough to weigh us down!” Armin snapped, taking stock of the crate of food thrown hapazardly together.

‘ _We can manage a crate or two of food and hunt when we need to. Water isn’t scarce if we’re able to follow the river. Blankets are needed to keep out the chill because if we get sick, we’re going to be eaten… And a few extra coats will be useful. Okay._ ’ He took two crates of food and stacked them in one corner before taking six tanks of gas and wrapping them in a couple of blankets and extra rain gear before tucking them beside the food.

“Water skins?”

“Here!” Connie called out, holding up several canteens in his hands. Moblit took them and ran them to Armin, who placed them with the gas and gear.

“Okay, Moblit, go help Mike, Mikasa, Levi and Erwin get to their horses. Hanji, can you bring Eren down here so we can get him in the cart? I’ll stay with him for now since my horse is pulling the cart. Erwin can drive, Mike will lead. Mikasa and Levi will run point, Sasha, Connie and Jean can run sides and you and Moblit can run tail. Any questions?”

“Yeah, when did you get so good at this shit?” Connie asked, panting a little as he adjusted his belts.

“When I had to start saving our asses! Now go and help Jean and Sasha with the horses!” Armin snapped, Hanji and Moblit already running to do their appointed jobs.

Erwin came out as Connie ran away, looking around.

“Where’s Mike?” Armin asked from the cart.

“He’s carrying Eren while Mikasa and Levi try to gather some last minute supplies. Are-”

“Everything we can spare is loaded up and it won’t add too much weight. You can drive, can’t you Commander?” Erwin looked a little taken aback at Armin’s new tone but nodded, wordless.

“Good. You can drive the cart while we get out of this mess. Levi and Mikasa can run point, they are the best among us. Jean, Connie and Sasha are running side defense and Hanji and Moblit have tail, simply because they’re veterans and they know how to take down any titans that are following us. Now get on board!” Erwin nodded again, still speechless that the nineteen year old was able to give orders to concisely and without stuttering in embarrassment at ordering his superior's around like they were cadets. He almost smiled, but the sobering thought of their situation and how much being in the Scouts had changed people made his heart a little heavier. He did as Armin asked though and sat in the driver's seat, gathering the reins. He could feel the rumblings of the group as they came closer and closer and watched as Mike, Mikasa, Levi and Hanji came running, Eren wrapped up in a blanket in Mike’s arms, still unconscious.

“Put him in the back with Armin. Mikasa, Levi. You two are on point. Mike, you’re running with Connie, Sasha and Jean on the sides. Hanji, Moblit, take the rear guard.” The moment that Erwin stopped speaking, they had a stroke of luck. Sasha, Connie and Jean came cantering over, each with a horse on either side.

“Mikasa, Levi, I have your horses!” Jean called, slowing to a trot before halting in front of the pair.

“Thank you.” Mikasa said before she mounted up and Levi gave Jean a nod, following his cousin to the point. Hanji and Moblit took their horses from Sasha as Connie gave Mike his own horse. The man tethered Erwin’s horse to his own before Erwin cracked the reins and yelled,

“Yah!” Fable and Wren took off at a canter before Erwin spurred them into a gallop, the group falling into place around them. Armin watched as the outpost disappeared in the moonlight night, vanishing behind them. What they were doing was almost insane. To pull such a stunt at night, and when the titans were being surprisingly active too… All of a sudden, Hanji let out a blood curdling scream, causing everyone to look back in fear of seeing them being eaten. But instead, they were laughing, pointing at the moon and the titans like it was obvious.

“ERWIN!!! WE HAVE TO CAPTURE THEM!! IT’S A GROUP OF ABNORMALS AND THEY’RE ACTING IN A GROUP MINDSET!! PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE CAN I GO AND DOCUMENT THIS?!”

Before Erwin could even process how insane that request was and respond with the obvious, Moblit took care of that for him.

“Section Leader Hnaji, you are forgetting that we don’t have the time to document them, the ability to capture them or the time to stop since they are chasing us!”

“Then I’ll just turn around! They’re powered by the moonlight, I’ll bet you anything! I’ve never seen titans so active at night!!” Moblit swore before he yelled,

“For gods sake, Hanji, you’re forgetting that we have Eren and the rest of the squad to worry about! You can find abnormals anywhere! We can’t lose Eren, got it? Now turn around, and ride like you’re supposed to.”

“Aw, Moblit, I hate it when you’re right!” But they did exactly as told and rode like hell. There were no words exchanged between the group as they rode hard and long through the night, over bumps and rocky footing, away from the mountains and far away from the known fields. When morning came, they slowed down so the horses could have a much needed rest, and even though they had switched between cantering and flat out galloping and for an hour, simply trotting, even their horses amazing stamina was flagging by three or four in the morning.

“Alright, it seems there are some trees tall enough to be useful up ahead, so we’ll spend the day there on the outskirts.” Erwin ordered. Everyone nodded, too tired to argue. When they arrived, the trees were indeed as tall as the ones they were used to and would serve as a good base for the day. They divided out rations of water and food while Levi came around back to check on Eren and Armin.

“Armin, has he changed at all during the night?” Armin shook his head, brushing some of Eren’s sweaty hair from his forehead. He mumbled in his sleep before slowly opening his eyes.

“C-Captain Levi?” he croaked, before pushing himself upwards and seeing Armin. “Armin? What’s going on?” Levi sighed and looked at Armin.

“Go get food and water and bring some back for Eren. I’ll explain.” Armin nodded gratefully and slipped from the cart, stretching his aching and bruised limbs before heading to Erwin and Mike for food and planning cogs already turning in his mind.

“Captain?” Eren asked.

“Well, it started with you passing out….” It took Levi a while to explain everything that happened. When he finally finished, Eren had a guilty look on his face.

“I’m sorry for causing so much damage, Captain…”

“Don’t apologize, Eren. You can’t predict what will happen out here. Nothing is certain and the only thing that we know whenever we leave the Walls is that we may die or we may live. That’s all. But there were no major casualties and we’re all okay. We didn’t run in vain.” Levi took Eren’s hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. Eren nodded, eyes a little glazed over.

“Oi, brat. You better not be passing out on me. Eren! Hey, stay awake!” Levi snapped his fingers under his nose, making the man blink a few times.

“I’m okay, Captain Levi.”

“Eren, just drop the title. We’re so far from the wall right now I doubt anyone cares about title. But if you ignore one of my orders again I will make you clean the inside and outside of headquarters without help. And if you do it wrong, I will make you do it all over again, got it?” Eren nodded hastily, head bobbing so hard Levi was half afraid it would fall off his shoulders.

“Hey, I have food.” Mikasa’s voice brought Eren and Levi’s attention to the flap before Levi took his leave for the moment.

“Eren, how are you feeling?”

“A bit tired…” he muttered, avoiding her eyes. She had seen him sick a few times. She knew what he would do… Hoping to cover it, he took the bread and water she had and scarfed them down so fast his already rolling stomach decided to revolt. Mikasa didn’t have time to ask what was wrong before Eren was up and out of the wagon and hit the ground running. He made it about twenty feet before he fell against a tree and wound up emptying his stomach over the ground, panting and dry heaving. A soothing hand was on his back, anchoring him to the spot. He concentrated on that hand as it slowly rubbed circles along his back, then when he finished heaving the contents in his stomach, gave him his canteen to wash out his mouth.

“Spit.” the voice who owned the hand commanded gently and Eren did just that. A bit of dried fruit was pushed under his nose.

“Try to eat it a little at a time.” He did as instructed, nibbling it until it was all gone before he was told to take a small drink of water. He was forced to repeat this process of swallowing little bits of food and chasing it with water. Finally, the hand gave him no more food, seeming to realize it Eren ate anymore, he would get sick again. And besides, he was exhausted. The hand seemed to belong to a really cool but really warm arm and chest…. Wait, when did he fall into a rock hard chest? The owner of said chest grunted a bit before taking his weight and leading a stumbling Eren back to camp.

“Lie down.” he did as he was told, feeling his head being positioned on something hard but soft and long fingers trailing through his hair. Blurrily, he opened his eyes and stared at his savior and saw a blurry outline of short raven hair but no red scarf… Captain? Apparently he had said that aloud because Levi was hushing him and telling him softly,

“Go to sleep, brat.” he did just that. Levi ignored the incredulous looks from the younger squad members, who didn’t know he was an older brother, or had been at one point. That he had done this many many times when Farlan or Izzy were sick or had such bad hunger pains they could have cried themselves to sleep. He pushed the thoughts away and waited for Eren to be deep asleep before removing his head from his thighs and placing it on a folded jacket. He didn't move from the spot next to him however. 

“Right, what’s the plan?”

_-_-_

The plan, as it turned out, was to keep going forward. There were fewer titans out here for some reason, which Hanji had theorized was from lack of humans in large groups. After a few hours of intense debate, it was decided they would keep going as far as they could, because really, when would they get another chance like this? Armin and Hanji and Moblit had turned into the scribes of the whole “adventure” as Hanji had taken to calling it. Levi retorted it was more of a pain in the ass. That had been a fortnight ago. Sasha was the hunter of the group and Levi was designated to taking care of Eren, seeing as he had the most experience taking care of sick people.

“We really need to find some damn good luck, forget herbs.” Jean growled out one day as they moved further and further into unknown territory. Mikasa nodded as Connie stretched his arms so his shoulders would crack.

“What we need is a miracle.”

“Be careful what you wish for, brats. You may not like what you get.” Levi called from behind them. They took turns riding in the cart but Eren was the permanent resident, due to his inability to ride without falling off. After the second day, he claimed he felt fine, that he had simply eaten too quickly on the first day.

“Then by all means, go ahead and ride.” Levi said, brushing invisible dust from his shirt.

“Fine.” that had lasted all of ten minutes before Eren practically threw himself off of Fable’s back, hit the ground rolling and was throwing up what little he managed to stomach.

“Right, you can ride. Yeager, get your ass back in the cart. Now. And yes, that is an order.”

“Thought you said… Not to worry about titles…” Eren panted. Levi snorted and heaved the boy to his feet.

“Don’t be a smart ass, shitty brat. Now get your ass back in the wagon.” Eren slunk back over like he was told, ignoring the worried looks his friends gave him. Mikasa had taken to being in the back with him, trying to help her brother as much as she possibly could. However, after the second time Eren ate too fast, Levi had taken to riding in the back, at least for a few hours each day, having the most experience with sick people. On the times that he was riding, he took point with Mikasa or Mike. 

“Sasha, do you know any herbs that would help his fever?” Levi asked on the fourth day when Eren wouldn’t wake up. Levi had actually hissed the moment his hand touched the taller man’s skin.

“Son of a bitch, he’s hotter than a sun! Erwin, where’s the closest body of water?” After stripping him and dunking Eren in the last river they passed, his fever still hadn’t broken but it was at least ignificantly lower than before. Hanji and Armin were having a blast with the new everything they found. It was almost funny to watch them steer their horses with their knees as they wrote because Hanji, whenever they left the Walls, brought at least three notebooks with them, having learned from past experiences. Armin was almost drooling at every new sight and Hanji… Levi didn’t even want to think about what was going through their mind. He sighed for the hundredth time that day; they were running low on food and even though Sasha was a very good huntress and supplied them with a semi-regular supply of medium sized animals that they cooked in the middle of the day so to avoid any titans being attracted by the light.

He had to admit, though. It really was amazing. They had been travelling across a stretch of plains that left the forests back home looking like they were just blips on a map, tiny specks in the vast range of grass. At least the horses never ran out of food. Armin had squealed when he found a small green bug on Eren one morning and the half awake teen managed to brush it off. Or, attempted to. It jumped high and arcing, before it disappeared into the grass. Eren’s fever was still difficult to control but he wasn’t allowing anyone to baby him, as he put it. He would force himself to eat and ride for short stretches of time, wanting to experience the outside world. Levi and Mikasa kept a close eye on him. Erwin and Mike were silent most of the time, just drinking in the sights they never thought they’d see. Sasha was almost always at a constant high from all the meat they were able to eat but Erwin had forced her to calm down and stop hunting, seeing as they didn’t know what was edible and not, so they were stuck with rations and the meat they cooked from previous days.

Day thriteen in the outside world was when their luck had turned horrible. The cart’s wheel broke, split perfectly in half.

“Shit! Shit shitshitshitshitshitshit!” Connie chanted, kicking the wheels as hard as he could. Erwin sighed and unhitched the horses that had been pulling.

“Well, I guess we’ll have to carry Eren and whatever supplies we can spare.”

“I’ll take Eren.” Mikasa stated. No one questioned it and Levi gladly gave his cousin her brother.

“Erwin, why haven’t we been seeing any titans? From what I heard, they roamed the outside world.” Mike said softly as Moblit groaned.

“Oh, please don’t set them off again…”

“Oh, are you asking why we haven’t seen any titans?” Hanji asked, excitement poorly concealed.

“Too late.” Jean mumbled, settling in for another session of ignore the scientist as much as humanly possible. Just then, Levi looked up at the sky, looking confused.

“Levi?” Moblit asked. The short man shook his head, mounting his horse.

“Nothing, I just thought I heard thunder. But there’s not a cloud in the sky, so-”

Armin looked at him when he said “thunder”, eyes wide.

“Captain Levi, did you just say ‘thunder’?”

“Yeah, why?” He looked at Armin closely and raised an eyebrow. “You okay there, Armin? You look like you’re about to shit yourself.”

“If I’m right, then we’re all better than okay…. Which way did you say you heard it?” Excitement was filling his voice now. More so than seeing the vast plains that they had been travelling through this past fortnight. .

“Uh, it was carried by the wind-” as if to prove his point, there was a strong gust, rippling across the plains and carrying the strong smell of salt and sound of distant thunder. Armin’s jaw dropped before he spurred his stallion into a full gallop.

“Armin!” Erwin called before sighing and swinging himself up into the saddle.

“Come on, we need to follow him!” the group didn’t need an invitation and set off after the Commander. Armin had a head start but it luckily wasn’t hard to follow a galloping horses tracks through tall grass. Levi lost track of time but he did notice that by the time they caught up with Armin, the sun was starting to set. Seeing as it was mid afternoon when the wagon had broken, Levi was seriously surprised that Armin had made it that far. He was stopped at the base of a small crest, waiting and staring at the top of it.

“Armin?” Connie called, trotting his exhausted mare to stand beside the blonde.

“Tell me you can hear it.” He whispered. Mikasa, and by default Eren, came to stand next to the pair, listening intently. Eren had woken up at some point during the day and was now fully awake, looking around in slight confusion before his eyes widened. He leapt off of Mikasa’s horse and ran to Levi, who had Fable tethered to his own horse.

“Eren, what are you-” Jean started but Eren was already on Fable’s back and spurring her to a canter, racing up the incline. Armin stirred to action and followed him, breathing erratic. Hanji and Moblit, Mikasa, Jean, Sasha, Levi and Connie were just behind them, Mike and Erwin at the rear. They stopped when they saw Eren and Armin dismount, slowly, oh so slowly. Then, the best friends gave each other a look before turning to face the others.

“What is it?!” Hanji yelled, cantering towards them. Armin was shaking so hard Levi was surprised that the blonde hadn’t fallen to pieces.

“T-T-t-t-t-the… T-t-t-t-the…” He swallowed. “The big… the big..” Armin’s voice trailed off. 

“The big shit? Spit it out.” Levi called back, losing patience quickly. After having to deal with Eren being stupid and pushing himself too much even when he knew he was sick and not allowing Levi to take care of him, then passing out at least twice two days before, he really didn’t care.  
Eren let loose a scream, so startling and loud that it made everyone react and look around for titans. Instead, he took off down the other side of the hill, whooping with joy, Armin two steps behind him. Finally, the rest of the squad crested the hill. And they stood absolutely still.

There, spanning for miles, shining with the light of the setting sun as it dipped below it, as if it were entering the water, was the ocean. The fucking ocean. Levi stopped breathing for a minute as he simply stared. Looking down, he could see the path that Eren and Armin had taken and how they were shedding their boots and jackets as fast as possible, shouting back and forth at each other, whooping with joy. Hanji joined them seconds later, almost throwing themself to the ground, Molbit, Mikasa, Jean, Connie and Sasha just behind them.

“We did it! We did it! We made it!” The younger squad members were chanting, their voices lifted on the wind. Levi could only stare, awestruck. He could feel himself sliding off his horse’s back, stumbling down the path and shedding his boots and coat as he reached the soft ground. The stuff under his feet was hot but also cool, like fine, white dirt. Levi stumbled forward till he reached the waters edge. It washed over his bare feet, the cold shocking him into reacting.

“Holy fuck, that’s cold!”

“I know, it feels great!” Sasha yelled as she slipped, landing and submerging. She sat up seconds later, spitting out water before her eyes widened.

“Oh my god, it’s salty! Connie, the water is salty! It’s salt water!” Eren fell to his knees, simply laughing and crying before Armin stumbled and fell face first into the water. Levi blinked, slowly coming to stand beside Eren's kneeling form, his own legs shaking so hard he was just glad they hadn't given out, unable to process much more than,

‘ _This water is fucking freezing, like snow. But holy shit, we made it. We made it to the ocean. Holy shit… We made it…_ ’ he watched as Erwin ran towards the face down, floating boy and pulled him upwards, sputtering and spitting.

“It’s… It’s the ocean.” He let loose a yell that rivalled Eren’s, and everyone joined in, laughter that was almost hysterical echoing under the stars.


	3. Everyone wants to see the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren is slowly getting worse as the day progresses and Levi is a surprisingly good nurse, even if he may deny it. But when morning comes, what will wait for them? There are shapes down the coastline and mroe than that, figure. Are they Titans? Or something... Else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, wow. Sorry to everyone whose read this and is waiting! Life caught up with me so I wrote an extra long chapter just for you guys!! I love the comments and thank you for the kudos and the bookmarks. Comments make me update faster. So, this work is completely unbeta'd so any mistakes, please point them out. Again, this story will be under constant revision as I'm changing grammar and correcting spelling mistakes, etc. But if I change a plot point or some aspect of the story in a previous chapter and you want it back, don't be afraid to tell me! Leave a comment and it may return. Anyways, on with the story.  
> No, wait, I lied.  
> !!!!DISCLAIMER!!!!  
> I OWN NOTHING!!! SHINGEKI NO KYOGIN or ATTACK ON TITAN AND ALL AFFILATED CHARACTERS AND PLOT LINES BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS. I only own the oc's and the names of the horses. I OWN NOTHING. 
> 
> Okay, NOW on with the story. As always, I hope you like it! Leave a comment and tell me what you think. (Also, sorry if anyone seems ooc. First time writing for this fandom). Enjoy!
> 
> -RR

Eren didn’t know how long he had been just sitting there on his knees, the freezing cold water washing over his legs and soaking them through to the skin, the cold cutting to the bone. He was shaking uncontrollably, barely able to hold his teeth still. It was worse than the winter snow, because at least that could be brushed off and kept from the skin with layers. He could feel his lungs seizing in the cold, even though he was in shallow waters that barely came to his thighs. He could feel Levi’s hard body just beside him, the smaller man screaming with joy, a sound that Eren had never heard come from the usually stoic man.

He raised his head and laughed, or tried to. It was breathless, hysteric and a little bit harsh, but he couldn’t care. He was so damn happy that it hurt, or maybe that was his lungs refusing to work, allowing him only harsh, shallow breaths? Either way, it felt so good and hurt like hell but Eren couldn’t bring himself to care. Erwin was holding Armin with his one arm, dragging him back to the higher, drier ground. The young man’s eyes were wide with awe and he was laughing and yelling with joy, completely incoherent. Even Mike was joining in, jumping through the waves and looking like a kid instead of a stoic, hard edged commander. Hanji was running through the waves, in the deeper water, Moblit just behind them as they jumped through waves, the water breaking at their hips. Mikasa, for once, wasn’t at Eren’s side and he didn’t know if he was confused or happy about the fact. Confused because then where was she and happy because it meant that he could enjoy the warmth that was radiating from Levi as he leaned into the man’s side.

Mikasa was simply staring, giggling a little as she watched Jean chase Connie and Sasha through the waves, the trio laughing, Sasha occasionally letting out an animalistic howl, water pouring from their clothes, water splashing up and refracting light from the rising moon. Eren watched as the dark waters slowly light up from the stars and moon, the small rising waters in the distance creating a distant thunder.

“L-levi…” he chattered, looking up at the man. He stopped, words sticking to the roof of his mouth as his tongue felt weighted down. The man’s head was thrown back, eyes closed and he was laughing, laughing and screaming. He was highlighted by the moonlight and the shadows contrasted sharply where the soft light couldn’t quite reach. The pale line of his throat made Eren’s mouth go dry and the noise of pure elation that was coming from the man made his head spin and his chest ache. Suddenly, Levi fell to his knees, laughing so hard tears were coming from his eyes, arms wrapped around his middle.

“We made it, Eren. We made it.” The voice was so light, and when Levi opened his eyes, facing the younger male, Eren felt his heart stutter for a second. Levi was smiling, it was small and it made his whole face light up. Eren briefly wondered what it would take to have that smile directed at him because of him, but the thought was quickly covered with the growing need to be warm, because he was really, really cold.

‘ _Have I always been this cold and just not realized it?_ ’ He wondered, leaning against Levi’s shoulder, feeling the convulsions of unrestrained laughter and tears. He wanted to fall asleep against the solid wall of warmth, to sleep a night without nightmares and to wake up without shaking or biting back screams. The perpetual cold that was dragging its hands down his spine and up under his skin, like it was trying to burrow so deep he could never get warm again… Slowly, the convulsions stopped, the shoulder he was leaning against shifting so he could feel the tense muscles of a chest underneath him, two strong arms gently shaking him.

“Eren… Oi, Eren! Brat! Shit…” he heard this through cotton, the muffled tones of worry barely reaching him. He just wanted to start floating away in that wonderful, warm black that was edging his vision and wrapping itself around him.

 _‘That’s weird… Where did Levi go? And Mikasa and Armin? Did Sasha, Connie, Hanji, Moblit, Mike, Jean, Mike and Erwin go with them? But it’s really warm…_ ’ That all ended when, just as the black had filled his vision, even though Eren was pretty sure that his eyes were still open, something cold washed over him, filling his nose and mouth, trickling down his throat as his eyes snapped open, stung by the dark waters. Eren reared backwards, sluggish but awake. His head was pulled up into the cooling air, hacking and heaving the water that had rushed down his throat. The same soothing hand that had been on his back the first time he was sick was back and the back of his mind registered that it was Levi but all that he could focus on right then was getting air back in his lungs, which chose that exact moment to freeze up.

“Eren, can you hear me? Listen, just breathe like I am, okay? Nice and slow.” One of his hands was pressed against the same chest he had been lying against not even a minute ago. There was a steady heartbeat underneath his palm, calm and pounding hard enough that Eren could feel the vibrations underneath his fingertips like they were just inches apart instead of being buried underneath muscle and bone. The chest was rising and falling slowly, in and out, making his hand fall up and down. Levi pulled Eren closer, saying softly,

“Just breathe, Eren. That’s it.” He wasn’t aware he had been following the Captain’s words but his head felt less heavy and he could see the worried expression on the shorter man’s face, etched across it like a scar. It was so raw that Eren almost thought he was looking at different person but the frown that scrunched eyebrows together was familiar. It was Levi. Why was Levi looking so worried? He was breathing, wasn’t he?

“Eren, hey, Eren! You shitty brat, keep your eyes on me!” the sharp note in Levi’s voice brought Eren back to the present.

“Oh, sorry Captain…” he slurred, blinking slowly, trying to focus his gaze on Levi’s face. Only, the face was blurring, mixing with the darkness and the cold was coming back, but it was worse than the cold that had swallowed his legs. This cold was pulling from his chest, aching and making his ribs feel like they were made of ice. Each beat from his heart seemed to shake them, making them hurt more each second.

“Eren, come on. Stay awake. You’re not allowed to sleep, do you hear me? You’re not allowed to, not when we got to the ocean. We made it, you little shit so you’re not allowed to go to sleep. Eren!” He fell forward, curling into the heat that was Levi’s body, head resting on his shoulder as his arms lay limply by his side..

“Please… Levi… You’re really warm… Don’t leave…” he could feel the beating of Levi’s heart, spreading the fire, and mixing with the vibrations from Levi’s voice and making his cold face just a little bit warmer. He could fall asleep here and be fine with it.

‘ _Actually, that’s probably the best idea I’ve had all day. Why is Levi worried? I’m just tired. I’ll wake up and do my chores later_.’ He could hear Levi’s worried voice through cotton, his head too heavy to keep up, his upper body following as he fell further into the enticing heat.

“Eren!!” but then Eren knew nothing more than the warmth and the dark.

_-_-_-_

“Eren, god damn it!” Levi bit out, stumbling to his feet. His legs felt heavier than boulders and the added weight of a waterlogged Eren wasn’t helping. Mike was the first one to notice and ran through the surf, helping as Levi pulled Eren out onto the soft, shifting ground and far away from the water.

“What happened?” Mike demanded, checking Eren over for outward signs of injury.

“He stopped breathing for a few seconds and passed out before I dunked him under water to try and rouse him. It worked. For about a minute. I think he forgot how to breathe for whatever god damn reason, so I put one of his hands on my chest and had him breathe slowly. About thirty seconds later he passed out.” Levi hoped that the worry that was making his chest clench uncomfortably wasn’t visible on his face. Mike nodded, pressing a hand against Eren’s forehead and recoiling.

“He’s boiling hot!” before he ran to the discarded gear and gathered anything that could be used to gather warmth to keep the shaking form getting worse. Levi, meanwhile, had pulled Eren onto his lap, laying the younger male’s head on his chest, trying to keep him from shaking. The clacking of his teeth was starting to worry him, and the light tinge of blue that was coming to his lips could only mean that Eren was sick, really sick. The fierce need to protect reared its head again, but it was far more intense than it had been with Farlan and Isabel. With them, it had been natural, to need to keep them safe even if they could take care of themselves. Eren, on the other hand, was different.

Levi wasn’t going to try and explain it, even to himself, other than the young man had wormed his way through his skin and into his heart. Levi swore, to his old squadmates, on their graves to be exact, that he wasn’t going to let Eren wind up like he had, and that if he could, Levi would protect him. Not that Eren had noticed, but Levi had hated himself when he allowed the boy to be captured, and when they found him chained under the cave, he was ready to kill Reiss again and again, only to do a far better job of it. And it wouldn’t have been with a paring blade, but his knife.  
Eren’s shuddering gasps for breath brought Levi back and he growled, shaking his head to clear out his thoughts. He needed to be here and now, taking care of Eren and making sure the man didn’t die on him.

“Levi, we need to get him warm. Here, tuck these around his legs and stomach.” Mike ordered, thrusting the rain gear and jackets at him. The blankets back with the broken wagon would have been better but Levi wasn’t about to argue. Mike was being surprisingly talkative, not that Levi was about to point this out. He had more important things to worry about. Erwin and Armin seemed to realize something was wrong and came running over, Armin stumbling once or twice, eyes wide now with fear and concern.

“Eren!” he yelled and the man moaned, but didn’t wake.

“Levi, what happened?” Erwin demanded as he slid to a halt, Armin sliding in the soft, shifting dirt before he fell to his knees. Levi couldn’t bring himself to care about the dirt that Armin had sprayed onto him, he was so worried, and quickly relayed what happened just as he told Mike.

“He stopped breathing for a few seconds and passed out before I dunked him under water to try and rouse him. It worked. For about a minute. I think he forgot how to breathe for whatever god damn reason, so I put one of his hands on my chest and had him breathe slowly. About thirty seconds later he passed out.” Erwin nodded, taking in the pale skin, so usual for the tan boy, the blue edging around his lips and started striding to the horses, who had stayed at the top of the mound. He whistled harshly and his horse came trotting up, tossing his head a few times. Armin caught on and whistled for Wren, who came seconds later.

“Armin, you and I will go and try to find anything that can be used for a fire. If we can, we’ll go to the wagon and break that apart to use the planks for wood. Mike, watch them.” Erwin nodded to the group who was too lost in their euphoria to notice. As soon as he said that, however, Sasha turned to the land, looking for Eren and Armin, obviously curious as to why they weren’t with them before she saw the scene and charged out of the surf, Connie and Jean following. Mikasa looked back and her eyes went wide before she was sprinting towards the small group.

Hanji seemed to hear the commotion and turned back. They stopped, staring, Moblit fluttering around them in worry before Hanji was running, crashing through the water, Moblit hot on their heels. In under a minute, Levi, Eren and Mike were surrounded by the entire squad, Mikasa on the other side of Eren, shaking her brother and calling his name. Everyone was talking and once and it was pissing Levi off. He stood abruptly, pulling Eren into a bridal style hold and moved backwards.

“All of you shut up. Eren is sick, very sick. We need a fire to keep him warm because rain gear, jackets and wet clothes are going to do shit all. Erwin and Armin are heading out to the plains again to look for the wagon. Mikasa, Connie, Sasha. You three will go with them, and yes, I am ordering you. Mike is staying here with me and Eren. Jean, Hanji, Moblit, you three try to gather the horses and bring them down here. We won’t be able to ride them any further out here, take the blankets off of them and their saddles. We’ll make camp close to the base of the cliff. Armin, if you know anything that can bring down a fever that’s out here, bring back as much of as you can. Am I understood?” the younger members of the squad, the habit ingrained into them, saluted and shouted,

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Good. Now get going.” Mikasa levelled him with a glare that would have made anyone else wilt but Levi simply stared his cousin down and raised an eyebrow before he sighed, lessening his glare and shifted Eren’s long limbed body a little before he said, only so that she could hear,

“The longer you stand here and glare at me, Mikasa, the longer Eren stays sick. if you want to help him, like you always claim, go and get blankets and the wood from the wagon to make a fire. We need to keep him warm and you have no experience with helping sick people. Do Eren a favor and get the supplies. Or do you want him to die?” Her glare disappeared and indignity replaced it, along with fear. She played with the ends of her scarf, staring for a few seconds longer, a stormy look crossing her face before she sighed and said,

“If anything happens to him-”

“I know.” She nodded once and left, following Connie and Sasha as the duo raced up the hill, scrambling after Armin and Erwin. Jean, Hanji and Moblit raced after them, Hanji obviously making notes of where the horses would have the easiest time climbing down on their own and where they would have to be guided.

‘ _I’ll never forgive myself and you’ll kill me. Well, you could try._ ’ Levi thought grimly before hoisting Eren closer, ignoring Mike’s hand on his shoulder, a silent offer to take Eren, quite literally, off of his hands. He was responsible for Eren. He could take care of him, even if once the brat was no longer sick, Levi was going to force him to take such a long bath, that his skin would never return to normal. He was contemplating taking a bath himself but with the cold ocean water, Levi really didn’t fancy getting sick himself. He could wait. If he just ignored the germs and dirt covering him from the past fortnight...

‘ _Okay, I’m just going to ignore it right now. I’ve been in worse situations. I have to focus on here and now, or else Eren may get worse.’_

“Levi, there’s a little outcropping over there that’s higher than the rest of the ground.” Mike was pointing to a spot about twenty feet away, tucked in the base of the steeper side of the cliff. It was raised off the ground enough that water, if it did indeed come closer, wouldn’t get them wet immediately. There was also an overhang with a side that jutted outwards, giving them shelter from the elements.

“It’ll have to do, come on.” Levi muttered, carrying Eren towards the spot. His legs were regaining feeling but slowly, like he had been riding for three days straight in blinding rain. Mike gathered their gear and carried it easily to the spot, leaning it against the side before he went back for more; the ODM was heavy and even Mike, who seemed inhumanly strong sometimes, could only carry four total at a time, or two pairs. Seeing as everyone had hastily shed it the second they hit the soft dirt, the gear was strewn all over the place. Levi set Eren down gently as he could as he reached the spot, settling down so Eren’s head was pillowed on his thighs. At least that way he would be able to feel if Eren stopped breathing. Mike came back from his final trip, dumping the coats and rain gear in a hasty pile before he started to tuck it in around Eren’s legs and torso. He draped his own jacket around Levi’s shoulders, silent, before Eren murmured in his sleep.

“Eren? Hey, if you can hear me, move your left hand.” Neither hand moved and the faint hope that the boy was going to rouse to consciousness vanished.

“Great.” he huffed but internally he could feel worry and a tinge of fear gnawing away at his insides. Eren couldn’t die on him. Not another one. He wouldn’t lose another, and he definitely wasn’t going to lose Eren to something as pathetic as sickness. That just didn’t suit him, dying a pointless death. The shuddering was back, so hard that Levi could feel his own legs shaking even though Eren was still boiling over hot.

“Come on, brat. You can’t give into this stupid sickness. If you give up, I will drag you ass back here and finish beating the shit out of you.” Mike snorted, as if to say,

‘Your bedside manner sucks, Levi.’ Well, he was usually better at “playing nurse”, as Isabel had said when she got sick with the same illness that was gripping at Eren. She told him that he looked so worried whenever she woke up and so relieved that she simply couldn’t leave him there. That look just wasn’t like him. Levi hadn’t taken care of someone so sick in a while, but the worry and the gentleness were obvious in his touch. He untied his caravat, which was already dirty from not having been washed thoroughly in a fortnight and held it out to Mike.

“Tear this in half, fold it and go get it soaked in water. We need to keep his fever from getting any higher. One needs to go on his forehead and the other on the back of his neck. If we had good water, we’d be able to tear it into thirds and get water to him that way.”

“Why not pour it down his throat?” he heard Jean ask as he jogged over, Tarus, Levi’s stallion, walking quickly behind him with Jean’s own horse, Malevolent.

“Because he could choke on it or throw it back up. I don’t know how sick he is and with what, so giving him food outside of some fruit and keeping him from getting dehydrated is the best I can do.” Mike returned at that moment, two halves of Levi’s caravat still dripping a little with cool salty water. Eren winced a little in his sleep, mumbling. Levi put a cool hand on his head, fingers winding through his hair as he pressed the cloths against Eren’s forehead and across his throat. Jean and Mike watched, speechless, as the “cold captain Levi”, who was able to beat the shit out of anyone and kill Titans without so much as breaking a sweat, who was never gentle, was making Eren comfortable. His pale fingers were winding through dark locks, and he was muttering,

“It’s a dream, you’re fine.” and pressing cool cloths to his throat and forehead as Eren’s mumbling and whimpering died down and he fell back asleep. His fingers never left Eren’s hair, combing through the matted locks soothingly before he gave Jean and Mike a look.

“Well? Get the damn blankets off the horses.” he snapped and the pair left to do just that. Levi shook his head and went back to keeping Eren calm. He knew the pain of PTSD nightmares, and was one of the reasons why he was awake so late into the night. The eyes of those he had failed, of the ones he killed haunted his early dreams. He had always been a night owl, able to stay awake till early hours. And besides, in the Underground, there was no easy way to sleep. You sleep without someone awake nearby that you trusted and your throat was slit and your clothes were stolen faster than you could have blinked. He shook off the ghosts of his past, at least for the moment. He could worry about them when he was awake and sleepless, staring at the moon as if it would answer him.

“Eren, come on. It’s okay. Just sleep. Just sleep.” he murmured as Eren’s fingers started to twitch and it wasn’t from the shivers that were making his whole body shake. Goose flesh was erupting across his skin and even if he was almost boiling hot, Levi knew that the only way to keep the fever under control, at least without herbs or medicine, was to keep cool cloths on the neck and forehead, even his wrists if there was enough cloth that he could spare, and keep the sick warm so to sweat out the heat and in effect, cool off their body. As long as Eren didn’t suddenly start going cold and the blue tinge to his lips wasn’t more than that, he would pull through. Levi wouldn’t allow him to die, not while Levi was still kicking and able to pull him back.

“Captain-”

“Kirstein, I’m pretty sure I said to call me by my name. We’re so far from the wall rank doesn’t matter unless I’m giving you an order.” Jean looked a little gob smacked but nodded, mute. In his arms was Tarus’ blanket, arguably the cleanest because it was Levi’s, and he held it out.

“Wrap it around Eren, we need to keep him warm as possible.”

“Yes, si- Levi.” Levi rolled his eyes and snorted. Honestly. He wasn’t going to bite. Well, maybe force them to their limits, yes. And clean properly because it was hygienic, he didn’t care what Hanji or Erwin said about that. But really, it made them better fighters, and it kept them alive much longer, so it really wasn’t like he was being a horrible person, right? He did care about them, as much as they may get on his nerves when they didn’t clean properly.

“Where’s Hanji and-” At that moment, said scientist and Moblit came jogging over, Fable, Sterling, Hanji’s horse, Jin, Moblit’s mare, and Nell, Mike’s horse, coming along behind at a smart walk. Hanji looked worried, the expression warring with fascination. Instinctively, Levi pulled Eren a little closer and moved so he was more in front of the unconscious man. He knew that Hanji wasn’t going to do much more than prod Eren’s sleeping form and maybe keep some observation notes for later in case Eren got this sick again or maybe to keep a running documentary on the shifter. Levi didn’t really know and he hoped to keep it that way. He had been on the receiving end of one too many of Hanji’s, ahm, explanations about Titans. He really, really, really didn’t need to hear more.

“How’s he doing?” Hanji asked, falling to their knees beside Levi, leaving Moblit to tie the horses to something.

“No difference.” Levi replied, sparing them a glance. His stomach was knotted in worry and frustration. He couldn’t do anything to help Eren outside of keeping him comfortable and making sure that he didn’t slip, so to speak, into the sickness.

“Hmn. I wonder if his body temperature is trying to counteract the sickness…” they moved closer, eyes sparking in that manic scientist light. Levi levelled a glare but Hanji didn’t look the least bit affected. If anything, they looked startled before a small, almost knowing grin spread across their face. The look was disturbing, to say the least. Hanji, whenever they got that look, it meant they had an idea and that that idea would come to fruition, no matter what it took.

“Hanji, stop smiling like that. It’s unnatural.” Hanji laughed, but the light laugh sounded a bit too hysteric to be natural. Moblit looked over at them, worry obvious before he caught the look Hanji gave him and the pair seemed to have a silent conversation before Moblit scowled, then sighed and shook his head.

“Just don’t do something without me.”

“You know I wouldn’t dream of it, dear!” Hanji sing-songed and Levi’s eye twitched. This was getting disturbing. Moblit chose that exact moment to intervene before Hanji could say anything else that would set Levi off.

“Here, these are the rest of the blankets.” he wrapped a second one around Eren before draping one around Levi’s shoulders, another around Hanji’s shoulders and tossing the last one to Jean.

“There. Won’t do us any good to have the rest of you get sick as well.” Levi sighed, ignoring the smell of horse and sweat and pulled the coarse wool blanket closer around his shoulders with his free hand.

“Alright, we need to set a watch for the night. I’ll take fir-”

“Levi, you’re not going to take first watch. I’ll take the first few hours, then wake you up for your shift.” Hanji stated, throwing Moblit their blanket and looking at the rising moon.

“We can do three or four hours shifts. Jean, you take shift after Levi, then Mike, and Moblit, you can take the last shift. The others should be back by then, if they travel through the night. If not, we’ll go and look for them at sunrise.”

“I’ll go and wait for them at the top of the cliff.” Mike said, grabbing his ODM gear and after putting it on, left, jogging down the strip of land and picking his way up the slope.

“Mhn… Levi?” Eren asked, shifting a little. Levi looked down, expecting the young male’s eyes to be closed and was instead greeted with half lidded glazed green eyes.

“Eren, go to sleep. You need to save your strength.” he said softly. He could have sworn Eren was almost purring by the way he was pushing his head into Levi’s hand, curling a little closer. He was still shivering but the added heat from the blankets seemed to be helping. Levi sighed, huffing just a little at the teens antics. He could feel Hanji’s eyes burning into the side of his head but when he looked, they were walking to the edge of the outcrop, ODM clanking a little as they moved. Moblit was pressed against the corner of the cliff and the outcrop, where the side met and formed a seam with the cliff face, blanket draped around his front. Propped up beside him was his gear, hand clutching the handle to his blade. Jean was leaning closer to the middle of the wall, lying so he was on his side, back pressed against the wall and ODM gear next to him and hand clutching the handle, much like Moblit. Levi sighed, settling Eren next to him and sitting so the teen was half hidden from view. He leaned his head against the wall, eyes closing slowly and the sound of crashing water lulling him to sleep.

Levi woke what felt maybe an hour later, a hand lightly shaking his shoulder. Immediately he reacted, grabbing the wrist of who owned the hand and pulling them off balance. It turned out to be Armin, who flailed silently, eyes wide, before he caught himself on the wall with his other hand. Levi released his wrist, looking slightly apologetic. If you hadn’t known the man, you wouldn’t be able to tell the lessening of the scowl and slight wince was a wordless apology. Armin smiled, rubbing his wrist slightly to get circulation flowing again and grimaced; even if Levi had only meant to pull him off balance, he could feel the bones ground to flour.

“When did you get back?”

“About two hours ago. It’s almost two in the morning. Hanji and Mike both said that you should get a later shift, so I took one and Jean took his. Oh, and don’t drink the salt water. Sasha was sick on the way back because she drank a lot of it at once on purpose.” Armin nodded to where Jean was now leaning against Mikasa, the blanket draped over both of them as their heads rested together. Levi wasn’t sure if they were together but he knew Kirstein had feelings for his cousin.

‘ _Well, I don’t have any control over it anyways but he’s better than most._ ’ he swept his gaze across the outcrop, taking note of the small fire that had been started, Hanji and Moblit leaning together nearby it. Really, Hanji was pillowing themself of Moblit’s chest, who had an arm slung around their shoulders and the horse blanket was more around Hanji than him. Levi almost smirked; he had won that bet then. Erwin was leaning against the wall closer to the edge of the platform, Mike asleep nearby him as Connie and Sasha were practically a ball of limbs and blanket, a bit further away and closer to Jean and Mikasa. Levi checked Eren’s breathing and temperature, worry warring with frustration. His temperature was still too high for Levi to be fully comfortable but his chest was rising and falling at a semi-regular pace and deep enough that he wasn’t too worried. The slight rattle at the edge of every other breath was what tugged at him though, like Eren had a broken rib.

“Alright. Go to sleep; I’ll take watch for the rest of tonight. Not like I’m going to be sleeping much more anyways.” Armin looked like he was going to protest but then thought better of it and nodded, sinking down near the fire and curling into a ball, asleep in seconds. Levi stood slowly, stretching out his sore limbs before scrubbing a hand over his face and looking outside. The water had risen a few feet, but it wasn’t close enough to the cliff edge that he would worry. They still had a good twenty feet before the water would reach them. The horses, he noticed, had been staked in place, reins tied around posts of wood. He guessed that the group had found enough wood and stuck them in the ground before tying the horses in place for the night. The animals were snorting, nostrils flaring at the new smell of salt and wind that danced about in the air. Eren mumbled at his side, still shivering but it wasn’t as bad as a few hours previous. Levi bit his lip, thinking, before grabbing his water bottle and, tearing off a now dry piece of his caravat in half, soaked the cloth in warm water and pressed it against Eren’s lips. When he applied slight pressure, water trickled out and into Eren’s mouth. Eren opened his eyes at the sensation, blurrily looking up at Levi.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Eren. How do you feel?” The slight worried quality that Levi’s voice had taken on seemed to startle him to at least a state of semi-wakefulness. He tried to push himself upwards, wincing as he did so. Levi pushed on his chest, easily stopping him from getting any higher than his elbows and helped him lay back down.

“You’re sick, brat. Really sick, so it’s not a good idea for you to be moving so much, alright?” He nodded, wordless before licking his lips.

“C-can I get some more water?” Levi nodded and grabbed his canteen, shuffling closer and grabbing Eren’s shoulder with one hand, wrapping his arm around him.

“I’m going to lift you up. Think you can stomach water on your own?” Eren nodded again and Levi pulled him up effortlessly, propping the younger male’s body up with his own. Eren seemed to settle immediately against Levi’s chest, despite being taller and drank the water from the canteen greedily. Levi pulled the canteen away, managing not to spill even a drop, and lightly glared at the shifter. The Captain lightly cuffed him over the head and said,

“Don’t drink so fast; your body can’t handle so much at once and with nothing else in you, you’ll wind up being sick. And I don’t know about you but I really don’t feel like cleaning up your shitty vomit. How are you feeling?” Eren blinked at him in surprise, shifting a little and clearing his throat. Now that it wasn’t as dry as a drought, he felt a little better.

“Cold, but not too bad.” Levi swept a critical eye over the younger male before snorting.

“Right, so I’m going to take that as really shitty with an extra dose of fuck my life?”

“How-” Eren broke off with a wet cough, the sound rattling in his lungs and making his ribs feel like they were going to crack. He felt like he couldn’t get any air. There was no way he could breathe, the pain was too great! His lungs were going to give out, the coughing had ended but he couldn’t get enough air… He could feel his vision blurring at the edges, his throat constricting-

“Woah there, Eren. Deep breaths, okay? In and out, you’re okay. You can breathe. That’s it. Just breathe.” Eren could hear Levi over his internal panic, could feel a chest rising and falling underneath of him and a rumble that made his mind go blank. The usually expressionless voice was soft, rumbling behind him and calming him down. The black blurring left his line of sight and he could see the light of fire, his friends sleeping and the ocean, stretching for days underneath the light of the stars.

“Thanks…” He mumbled and Levi looked startled before saying,

“No problem.” Eren wasn’t sure how long they were sitting there, him simply copying Levi’s breathing until their chests rose and fell in synch, his head resting on the captain’s shoulder and his eyes looking over the vast ocean in wonder.

“Oi, brat. You never finished answering me and I want the truth this time.” Eren closed his eyes and when he opened them, looked at anything but Levi as he said softly,

“I feel cold and it’s hard to breathe… I feel like my ribs are ice.”

“You’re burning up again…” Eren could feel Levi’s hand pressing against his forehead and sighed, pushing into the cool skin as much as he could. Levi’s hands were so cool against his hot skin and even through his shaking, he could feel the heat the radiating from the smaller man. The conflicting sensations confused him but Eren couldn’t care less so long as Levi never moved.

“Alright, I’m going to get up now, but I’ll be right back, promise.” the words were low and it was then Eren realized that Levi hadn’t spoken above a low murmur the entire time he had been awake. His fogging mind started to travel down paths usually reserved for when Eren was deep asleep and longing for warmth. What it would be like if Levi were murmuring sweet nothings into his ear as they woke up slowly, sun barely brushing their skin… Levi whispering to him as they sat in a boring meeting, or growling his name… Eren following with a shout for more, for anything… Immediately, Eren cut those thoughts away.

‘ _Not now… Really don’t need an erection right now, body… Titans. Titans eating my friends. Titan eating me…_ ’ that effectively killed any and all erotic thoughts Eren may have had, sending blood rushing to his cheeks as residual anger grew.

“-en, Eren. Hey, Eren!” snapping fingers under his nose brought Eren back to reality and a face full of Levi’s steel grey eyes, worried light making them almost silver.

“I thought you were about to blackout again. You can move, right?” Eren shifted his legs, which weren’t entirely weak, and nodded. Levi wrapped an arm around Eren’s shoulders and pulled Eren’s right arm around his shoulder as they stood, balancing them out. Once Eren had his feet underneath of him and the blankets and gear had fallen into a haphazard pile at their feet, Levi wrapped a strong arm around Eren’s waist and started to lead them towards the water.

“You’re too hot. If you’re body gets any hotter, you may turn into a steamed titan and that won’t be good for anyone. Come on, we’re almost there.” Eren felt a little confused. This side of Levi was, dare he even think it, motherly. The stark contrast made his head spin but that could just as easily have been from the vertigo. Nothing about his tone had really changed, aside from a slight tinge of worry whenever he spoke but there was no shift in expression. They slowly made it down to the water, Eren stumbling once or twice but Levi always pulled him back to his side and stood there, waiting for Eren to get his bearings before he would continue.

“Thank you, Levi.” Eren almost moaned when the freezing water washed over his shins. At some point, someone, he guessed Levi, had rolled up his pants and removed the belts that wrapped around his feet.

“Where were you going to go?” Eren asked after a minute of them standing in the surf.

“I was going to just re-wet the cloths I had been using earlier but you’re getting too warm so I figured the best thing to do was get you to the closest source of water. I wouldn’t drink it though, Sasha apparently got sick from when she drank it before, though thankfully it was when she and the others were out by the wagon and not here.”

“Hmn.” Eren leaned into Levi, enjoying the relaxing sound of water as it washed over his shins and filled his ears, eyes slipping closed.

“Eren, come on, stay awake. I don’t feel like dragging your body to the outcove. You’re heavy.”

“Not as heavy as you.” He mumbled and he heard Levi’s voice take an indignant tone.

“Are you calling me fat?” Eren rushed to correct himself, blushing heavily.

“N-no sir!! I’m just saying that you’re really muscular and even if you’re short, you’re heavier than I expected the few times you’ve fallen asleep and I’ve had to carry you back to your room- I mean, you’re not that short but your muscles make up most of your body weight and-and-” he stopped speaking when he heard something that he never expected. Levi was chuckling. In fact, he had turned his head away and was trying to muffle it in his hand but Eren removed himself from Levi’s grip to totter to face the man full on, eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Levi’s mouth was turned up in a smile, his hand covering most of it, but Eren could see crinkles at the corner of his eyes and the way the steel grey eyes glowed with mirth, which seemed to be a long lost emotion to them but it suited Levi so much. Eren could feel his heart pounding a little harder as he stared and Levi tried to regain control of himself.

‘ _In one day I’ve seen Levi smile and laugh and now snicker. Oh my god, he’s so cute when he blushes…_ ’ That thought seemed a little random until he registered that the small captain was indeed blushing from Eren staring at him.

“Captain?”

“It’s Levi, Eren.” He said, getting himself back under control. Eren nodded, feeling something… settle inside of him as he stood there, free of any support as the water washed against him, cooling his burning shins and the cold slowly creeping upwards through his muscles, Levi standing in front of him, light by the light of the full moon. Levi sighed, softly, and Eren almost thought he missed it or that it had been his imagination but Levi murmured,

“We made it. We’re here. We’re okay.” And a smile, so small it could have been insignificant, was on his face. It made him look years younger, as if all the stress from life hadn’t worn him down and torn through his soul. Like he were a completely different person. Eren couldn’t understand the feelings that came from that smile, the way it shot through his heart and left him frozen. Because Levi was talking to him. Levi, the Cold Captain, the Demon, Humanities Strongest Soldier, was smiling at him and pulling him closer and oh wall- Eren could feel himself teetering, overwhelmed with the thought that they were actually here, that they had made it, crashed through him again and Eren fell forward, leaning his forehead against the shorter mans, laughter breathy and barely audible.

“Eren…” Levi looked unsure, and surprisingly vulnerable, like his mask had been removed. “What-” Eren just closed his eyes and moved his head, sliding their foreheads away so his head turned and fell to his shoulder, wrapping his arms around the shorter man.

“Just… Holy shit. We’re here. We’re here, Levi.” Levi’s face broke out into another smile and he just held onto the younger male. They stood there for a few minutes, ignoring everything that was around them in favor of savoring the fact that they were no longer cattle, that they were in fact, free. When Eren could feel himself falling, quite literally, into the black and started to slide down Levi that the small captain held on tighter and easily maneuvered Eren’s body into their original position that they had been in to walk to the water. For some insane reason, Eren felt the need to laugh and it started out as a giggle before it turned into a full body, body aching laugh, sending Levi into a fit of chuckling himself. From there, the pair managed to make it back to the outcropping, their laughter dying out to gasps. Levi positioned himself against the wall and laid Eren down beside him before he stood again and gathered the blankets and gear that had kept him warm.

“Levi…” Eren’s voice was fading into a murmur and the captain grunted, shifting the taller man’s legs so that he could tuck the blankets more securely around him.

“Thank you.”

“Go to sleep Eren.” Eren smiled, just a small thing really, but it made Levi’s heart skip for an odd reason and he quickly repressed the feeling. He returned the smile and ruffled Eren’s hair softly before settling in for the remainder of the night, paring blade held loosely in his right hand as his left unconsciously ran through Eren’s hair, soothing him to untroubled sleep. Eren shifted so he was lying more on Levi, trying to get that warm and cool feeling to be forever imprinted on his skin. Levi sighed and muttered,

“So troublesome.” before he moved the shifter around so he was laying more comfortably across Levi and also so Levi could protect him easier. Not that he did that on purpose… Of course not. He turned his gaze to the beach, eyes constantly roaming for any danger. However, he didn’t notice the small grin that Hanji wore, their eyes cracked open just a little.

“Moblit…” they murmured and the man grunted softly, notifying them that he was indeed listening.

“I have a new project.” He huffed a laugh and moved a hand so it was tangling in the strands of their hair. He was on board then. Hanji smiled, content.

‘ _Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I can’t wait to begin._ ’ was their last thought before they dropped back off into a wonderful dream.

_-_-_-_

Levi squinted into the distance, not quite believing his eyes. There were… Shapes, vague, blocky shapes moving across the water. They were further down the coast, as Armin had identified the strip of land that they had camped out on, and thus looked tiny but Levi was immediately on edge. They weren’t moving any closer, so that wasn’t too bad but after living the way he had, he never took anything at face value. He shielded Eren more, pulling him to his chest and making him wake up a little.

“Ehn.. Levi?”

“Go back to sleep, Eren. It’s okay.” he shook his head and slowly pushed himself upwards, looking pale under his tan and he was shaking a little but he didn’t pass out so Levi took it as a good sign. But he kept a sharp eye on Eren as he threw a boot at Erwin and Mike, startling them awake.

“What? I’m awake. Is it my shift?”

“It’s dawn, shitty eyebrows. And wake your ass up, we might have trouble.” That got them up. Mike was standing beside Levi in the blink of an eye, Erwin not a beat behind, both searching for the danger and expecting Titans. Only, there were no titans. There were just vague shapes down the coast, rising and falling with the water.

“Well, they’re not Titans… Oh, Eren. How do you feel today?”

“Uh, f-fine sir!” Eren almost saluted but lost his balance and started to wobble before Levi steadied him out, worry spiking in his chest.

“Don’t push yourself, idiot.” Eren blushed a little and Erwin smiled, shaking his head before he turned back to the matter at hand.

“We need to find out what those are…” The group behind them started to wake, with different periods of wakefulness. Connie yawned and stretched while Sasha was mumbling about breakfast. Armin was up and moving, coming over to the edge where Erwin, Mike, Levi and Eren were standing, scanning for what they were looking at. Mikasa and Jean woke up a few minutes after that, slowly shifting to stand while Hanji and Moblit jumped up, quite literally in Hanji’s case, and came over to where the small group was gathering.

“What are we looking at?” Hanji asked, interest oozing from their every pore, excitedly looking all over for whatever had them so worried. Levi grabbed their shirt, pulled them down to his level and turned their head to the direction of the shapes. Their jaw dropped, a faint squeak making it out before Hanji was talking a mile a minute.

“Oh my god, Erwin, pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease let me go and see what that is!! Please, pretty please with sugar on top and a whole month of paperwork. PLEASE!!” Their face was red and drool was leaking out the corner of their mouth, and then they fell to their knees, grabbing at Erwin’s shirt.

“Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!!! It’s not Titans! I would know and those aren’t Titans. Please.” Moblit managed to pry Hanji away and was helping them stand as Jean, Sasha, Mikasa and Connie joined them, confused but curious. Erwin sighed and shook his head before saying,

“We can’t not go. It may be dangerous so bring your ODM gear and we’re traveling as a group on horse back. Eren, can you ride?” he seemed to be testing out his legs, moving away from the wall and Levi before nodding.

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Then you’ll ride on your own but the moment that this turns out to be dangerous, you’re riding away, do you understand? Armin, you and Sasha will go with him. We can’t risk you getting stuck in the Titan flesh or over exerting yourself and getting worse, understood?”

“Yes sir!” The trio saluted Erwin before they remembered where they were and how both Erwin and Mike told them not to worry about rank. Unless, like Levi had said, it  was a direct order.

“At ease. Now, let’s get the horses saddled and head out.” the group nodded, breaking camp quickly and easily getting to their tasks in the dawn light. Eren stopped tightening the girth on Fable when he gasped and looked out over the ocean. Levi, who had just finished saddling Taurus and putting back on his ODM gear, rushed to his side, protectiveness seizing his heart with worry.

“Eren?” Mikasa was just behind him, worry dripping from the single word so thick it was almost a physical thing.

“I’m fine. Just, look… The ocean. It looks so different.” Levi ruffled his hair a little instead of cuffing him around the head and grunted,

“Idiot. Don’t make us think you’re dying by gasping out like that.”

‘ _Don’t make me think that you’re worse than you already are…’_ he couldn’t voice the thoughts, the ones he would have snapped at any other time but for some reason were stuck on the roof of his mouth. Eren blushed and nodded, laughing lightly before he coughed a little. Levi was instantly alarmed and took out his canteen, helping Eren drink a few mouthfuls of water as Mikasa hovered obnoxiously beside him. He gave his cousin a look and sighed.

“Ride beside him if you’re worried, but Eren doesn’t need your constant mother henning. It’s not going to help him very much if you don’t know what to do and are suffocating him.” Harsh but true. She levelled a glare that could have killed a man but Levi only turned back to helping Eren get his gear on and helping him get back onto his horse. He looked at Armin and Erwin, who were deep in conversation about what was going on while Mike simply smelled the air, looking around in obvious confusion. Hanji was speaking so fast Levi was surprised that Moblit could even understand them as Sasha ate some of the meat rations, drooling a little as she did so.

He was halfway tempted to get Eren to eat but he knew how that would turn out. Namely, Eren barely able to hold anything down and Levi being stuck with taking care of him even longer.

“Everyone ready?” A chorus of ‘Yes sir!’ came from the younger scouts while Levi simply nodded and Hanji squealed and, apparently unable to hold themself back any longer, spurred Sterling into a gallop, yelling manically to the wind.

“God damn it, Hanji!” Moblit yelled, spurring his mare, Jin, into a gallop behind them. Erwin sighed, obviously annoyed, before the group took off behind the pair, quickly catching up.

“Hanji, next time, don’t take off like that!” Levi could hear Moblit shouting but Hanji was simply laughing too hard, face red with either excitement or something else that Levi really didn’t want to contemplate. He kept looking at Eren, who looked like he was staying on Fable through sheer will power and rode a little closer, noting Mikasa was practically his flank and rolled his eyes. He knew that she was protective of Eren, hell he was protective of Eren, but if anything happened to him she almost went insane. He knew it stemmed from the pain of losing basically everyone she had ever loved but then again so and he and he wasn’t psychotic whenever he saw death.

‘ _No, but you do shut down. You won’t let anyone in anymore, afraid they’ll get too close._ ’ the voice was disturbingly close to Petra’s and Levi shook away the little voice, forcing himself to move past it. He could never forgive himself for leaving his squad. Never. Eren was still alive, thank god, but he lost four people he truly cared for…

‘ _No. I refuse to go down that path. Self pity is for the weak. And I am strong._ ’ He was taken from his thoughts when he noticed how much closer and how much more… House like the shapes were. They were floating out on platforms, walkways connecting the small community and a path leading further along the coast. Hanji gasped and spurred Sterling even faster, eyes wide behind their goggles. The group followed suit but had to pull their steeds to a sudden halt as Hanji did, or else risk either running into them or risk going into whatever Hanji had stopped for. They were staring, open mouthed, at the nearest floating platform.

“Hanji? What is it?” Jean asked, coming up behind them. They pointed, finger shaking, mouth moving up and down, but no sound would come out.

“Hanji?” Moblit sounded genuinely worried for their health and even Levi was concerned. Hanji was speechless, what could make them do that- He stopped and looked at what they were pointing and felt his jaw drop a little. There were figures. Human like figures. And they had noticed the group, and were now moving excitedly about the platform. A group of ten suddenly rushed to a boat while another four dove into the water and started swimming, calling out in joy. The group couldn’t move. Mikasa was staring in shock, motionless even as she clutched the blade’s handle, eyes wide in shock. Levi looked at Armin, who was whiter than the soft dirt underneath of them. He was so pale, Levi was a little surprised that he wasn’t a sheet. Eren beside him looked like he could pass out and Levi reached out to steady him. Sasha and Connie were looking between each other and the human, _human_ , figures coming towards them. The four that had dived in reached them first, laughing and calling out. Mike sniffed the air, looking confused as Erwin looked at him then the approaching humans. Jean looked like someone had just told him that Titans could fly and sing drunken ballads.

“Hello, friends! We mean no harm, please don’t worry!” The tallest figure shouted, a female in short pants and a short shirt, her skin almost so dark it could rival the night sky. Her hair was wild, a dark cloud that was half slicked back with water and her smile was wide and caring. The other members of the group, another woman and two men, were of various sizes. There was a man, on the shorter side, who looked like Mikasa and Levi, only with his eyes more like almonds and his skin tanner where theirs was pale. He gave a wave and wide smile, showing off white teeth. The other female looked like Christa, only far tanner and taller but with the same angelic looks while the other male was darker than the first but lighter than the first woman. He gave a booming laugh at their faces and called,

“Come, come! We mean no harm to you! We welcome you, come on!” Armin was the first one to dismount, even as Erwin tried to grab for him and Levi moved a bit more in front of Eren. The Levi Squad watched with bated breath as Armin stumbled towards the group, eyes wide and mouth wide open.

“You- You’re h-h-human?” The woman knelt so they were eye level and pressed a hand to Armin’s chest before taking one of his limp ones and pressing it to her chest.

“Same as you, yes? We are not Titans. We are human, same as you. You are safe now.”

“H-how is this possible?” Armin stammered out, unblinking before his eyes rolled up and he fainted. The woman caught him easily even as the rest of the squad threw themselves off of their horses, Erwin reaching Armin first and pulling him close. The woman let him take the young blonde and smiled, sitting back on her heels.

“Matuook, tell the others to come carefully. These people have seen Hells.” The woman said softly, treating the group like a bunch of skittish, wild animals. Hanji just stared, eyes so wide Levi was half worried that they would fall from their head. The second male nodded and left, running back to the water and swimming effortlessly to the boat.

“Can… Can I touch you?” they asked, voice so soft it was almost inaudible. The woman who looked like Christa nodded and laughed, holding out her hand. Hanji touched her hand then flinched back before stepping closer and intertwining their hands. Moblit watched from behind, a constant shadow. Suddenly, Hanji let out a yell and hugged the woman who laughed and patted her back.

“This is real… Oh god, this is really real. Tell me I’m not dreaming, please… This is better than a whole pack of abnormals. This…. I don’t think I can say.” Hanji started to laugh, a strange laugh that ended in a sob and they were clutching to the woman like she was a life line.

“It’s okay. You’re all safe now. I promise.” the woman sank to her knees, pulling Hanji with her and rubbed a hand up and down their back as Moblit simply stared.

“Hello. I am Malik; nice to meet you.” the man who looked like Mikasa and Levi said with a smile and a small incline of his head.

“Are you…” Words failed Mikasa so Levi, just as stunned, managed to get out,

“Are you an Asian?” Malik nodded and smiled before hugging them both. The cousins froze, not knowing what to do. The group was obviously friendly, even by their standards, but that wasn’t the disturbing part. There wasn’t supposed to be any humans left outside the Walls. The woman seemed to understand their confusion and said, gently,

“We will explain more later. I am Fatima, the leader of this platform. The others want to meet you, can we bring them to shore?” Erwin gave a curt nod, Armin finally rousing as Fatima stood and signalled to the waiting boat.

“Come, we will help you. There is no need to fear us.”

“Sorry to say, but with what we go through on a daily basis, trust is a little hard to come by to perfect strangers, even if they are are human. And outside the Walls.” Connie said finally. Fatima nodded, looking thoughtful

“Then you shall explain and we shall explain. And then trust will be formed. But first, I believe the tall one is going to faint.” She pointed to Eren, who did indeed look too pale for words. Levi was beside him in an instant, worry palpable, Mikasa a step behind him.

“I’m-” he broke off with a wheezing cough, doubling over and clutching his chest like he was trying to get at his heart. He fell sideways into Levi, breathing harshly as the coughing fit died down, Malik reached out to touch Eren, calculation painted across his face. Levi levelled a glare so sharp it could have cut his face off but the man held up his hands and the serious look made Levi and Mikasa lessen their glares. But only a little bit. 

“I’m a doctor and he’s sick. You won’t trust us, obviously, but let me help him. I know what’s wrong.” Levi looked at the wheezing Eren, mentally weighing his options before he nodded and easily lifted Eren bridal style. He gave Malik a look that plainly stated, ‘ _Like hell I’m trusting you enough to carry him._ ’ Malik seemed to accept this and led the way to the boat, which was now settled on the coasts shallows.

“Mia, Luna, Luke, I need you three to go and get more boats. The others will stay here to help the new ones become less skittish, yes?” The two women and the man nodded, diving into the water as the seven others, a mix of adults and even a child or two, men and women with different clothing styles, heights, hair colors and skin, all made their way through the water as Mautook came back at that exact moment, looking a little puzzled before he saw Eren in Levi’s arms and nodded.

“Ah, I understand now.”

“You understand what?” Mikasa asked, Levi too worried over Eren to really care. Malik helped him into the wide bottomed boat, then Mikasa as Mautook easily climbed in and took a thick pole from the floor and began to push them towards the floating platforms.

“That this boy is very important to you. What are your names?” Mautook asked, an easy grin on his face as Malik started to struggle with Eren’s gear. Levi brushed his hands away and started to undo the belts, the gear hitting the floor with a dull thump before he began to undo the many belts that criss-crossed Eren’s limbs and torso.

“I’m Mikasa Ackerman. That’s Eren Yeager, my brother.”

“Levi Ackerman, her cousin and captain to both of them.” Levi answered, clipped and to the point, finally getting the last belt off.

“Wait, why Captain? Where is your ship?” Mautook asked, easily distracting Mikasa as she explained the military and the Scouting Regiment. Levi couldn’t bring himself to care. All he cared about was Eren getting better, especially since his fever had spiked again.

“How long has he been like this?”

“Three days. He’s been sick for a fortnight, at least. I managed to keep his body at least a little bit cool with water and he can eat some and drink water but anything more than a mouthful and he’s puking it back up.” Levi answered, defaulting into report mode. Thorough, short and to the point.

“Alright, I can work with that. I’ll show you were to carry him, alright? But then you have to wait outside, because I can’t have you or your cousin fluttering over Eren, okay Levi?” Malik’s voice was damningly calm and Levi found himself nodding, eyes narrowing but he couldn’t find any logical reasons to ignore the man. He may trust these people shit all but the need to have Eren well and bounding around with inexhaustable energy again was almost a physical pain in his chest.

“Fine.” he agreed, ignoring the look Mikasa gave him and Malik sighed in obvious relief.

“Don’t worry, you’re cousin will be in good hands.” It took Levi a minute to process what the doctor had said before he shook his head.

“We’re not related. Levi and I are.” Malik’s brow scrunched in confusion.

“She’s his adopted sister.” he clarified and their deep brown eyes took on a new light before the pair chuckled, as if they had made connections.

“Alright, Levi. Pick up Eren and follow me.” Levi noticed that they had docked and followed Malik’s instruction, not realizing he was operating through mild shock. Malik helped him steady himself as he stood, Eren making it a little hard to get out easily and not fall into the light blue waters. Malik pulled him him quickly and once Levi was steady, lead him through the floating platform. There were more buildings than he expected, to say the least. And they all looked very clean and homey; they weren’t made from logs but looked like slats of wood had been built up a certain way, with slate roofs and open shutters on the windows.

“Ah, here we go. This is my humble abode.” Malik lead Levi into a single story building, which was split into two rooms; one was lined with soft looking cots and the second had long tables that was covered in many herbs and tools that Levi couldn’t even begin to name and a small pile of pillows and blankets over in the corner.

“Place him here.” Levi did as directed and stepped back, only to have his sleeve grabbed and Eren’s blue-green eyes stare at him, pain and fear obvious.

“L-levi… Don’t.. Leave.” He sighed and put a hand over Eren’s before sitting beside him and running his free hand through his hair, soothing the brunet.

“I’ll be outside, Eren. Remember that, okay? You’ll be fine, Malik will help.” he didn’t add that he didn’t trust the man at all. Eren just needed to be calm. “Just go to sleep.” Eren was gasping for breath, like his lungs were half frozen, so Levi pressed the hand that had curled around his sleeve to his chest and murmured,

“Deep breaths, okay Eren? That’s it. You’re alright.” Levi waited until his eyes were shut and his chest was rising and falling at least a little bit more evenly and a bit deeper before he put Eren’s hand back down and stood.

“You two are close, I take it?” Malik’s voice was odd, soft and almost wistful, like he was remembering someone.

“You could say that. I’ve known him for four years. Stupid shitty brat always gets into the worst situations.”

“Oh? Well then I’ll do my damnedest to pull him out of this one.” Malik handed Levi some dark seeds and the man raised an eyebrow.

“They help with sleep. I've noticed the dark circles under your eyes, but I won't pry unless you want to talk." The doctor shrugged at Levi's look.

"You all look like you've seen enough blood and gore to traumatize anyone. I wouldn't really understand, so I won't ask you to explain. Take one and you should be able to sleep four to five hours. Two and you sleep for eight to ten. Fatima and the others should be here by now, but you look like death.” Malik paused, brown eyes calculating something, before he nodded to the cot beside Eren’s. 

“Take one of those and get some sleep. I’ll rouse you if anything happens. And I mean anything.” Levi was about to open his mouth to refuse but Malik gave him a look that halted any rejection. It was a look that reminded Levi why he hated healers and doctors so much. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and would just as easily force the medicine down your throat as they told you to take it. He really didn’t feel like having to deal with a fucking doctor on top of all the stress. And now that he noticed it, the exhaustion that was dragging at his limbs.

“Go and take some sleep, Levi. I’ll make sure that Mikasa and the others know where you are. She was with Mautook at the boats last I saw.” Levi nodded and sighed, but took one of the small black seeds anyways, crunching it between his teeth and sitting as a spell of dizziness hit him before he was falling. As he was falling, calloused hands caught him and laid him back gently on the surprisingly soft cot. They were familiar, small but not lacking in strength. He fell into the first dreamless sleep he’d had in awhile; nothing but smooth, warm dark. 

‘ _I better not have another one of those fucking seeds… They’ll start making me dependent…_ ’ Was his last thought before he was falling, unable to hold off the dark any longer. He thought he could feel someone squeezing his hand, saying his name but he was already asleep. 

_-_-_-_

Armin stared at the woman in front of him, having just come out of his fainting spell and why was there heat at his back? He tilted his head up a little was met with the concerned and relieved faces of Erwin, Mike and Sasha. While he was touched that the other two cared, his face erupted into a violent blush at the fact that Erwin was holding him and had apparently caught him… And oh god, he was probably very heavy. He pushed himself up and away, laughing nervously, before turning his attention to the woman in front of him. She looked a little like Ymir, now that he thought about it.

“Would you like to come and eat and rest? Come, your friend is alright. Malik is the best doctor on this platform; he will take care of them. And Mautook will not allow any curious bystanders in unless your friends wish for it. May I know your names, by the way?”

“I am Erwin Smith.” It was almost annoying how the man was still so damn calm.

“A-armin Arlet.” Armin stammered out, trying to regain control of his blush.

“S-Sasha Brouse…” Sasha managed to get out, still in shock.

“Connie Springer.” Connie gave an awkward wave, trying to regain his confidence from earlier.

“Mike Zacharias.” he nodded once.

“Jean Kirchstein.” He gave a little wave, still awe struck.

“Moblit Berner and that mess over there is Hanji Zoe. I’m sorry for their behavior Ms…”

“Ana. And just call me Ana, please. No need to be formal.” Hanji was still crying into her shoulder, sounding both happy and devastatingly sad.

“Hanji?” Jean asked, moving closer. The scientist may disturb him on the best of days but this was unusual, even for them. Hanji finally pulled themself away from Ana, laughing and wiping away the tears.

 “I’m sorry, it’s just a little overwhelming.” They smiled again and Ana smiled back, grin small and kind.

“Come, we shall go and talk, but first you must rest and eat. Then we will talk, yes?”

“But-” Erwin tried, struggling to comprehend what was going on and Fatima placed a large hand on his shoulder, eyes hard with resolve but her face soft with understanding.

“You have been through much and have blood soaked into your skin. You have been in Hell. You must sleep without fear; these days are not safe to be on the shore. In a week, we will be able to dock for a while but not now. Come, come and eat and sleep. We will explain and then trust will come.”

“Mike?” It was almost a whisper.

“I don’t smell anything off.” Erwin seemed to sag a little, looking like a large burden had just been released from his chest and he just noticed that it had left him. He straightened not a moment later, confidence back in place. 

“Very well, we will follow you.” Fatima nodded and helped Erwin to his feet, gesturing to the group behind them.

“Allow me to introduce everyone.” She pointed to Ana.

“This is Ana Carter, our resident mapmaker and explorer. Her wife is Luna, who is back on the platform but don’t let her size deceive you. She will make you fall flat on your face before you can blink if you hurt or threaten Ana. She is also one of the explorers. That is Tay Well,” She gestured to a slight man with long blonde hair tied back in a braid. He was dressed in pants like theirs, and a light green shirt. His skin was tan, almost like a bronze color and his eyes were a piercing green.

“Hello.” His voice had a thick accent, like he were from the mountains.

“They are a baker, with their wife, Mina and their daughter and son, Alena and Bex.” The woman, Mina, had long, wavy black hair and looked like Malik, meaning she too was Asian. Their children couldn’t have been any older than nine or ten but looked almost identical, aside from Alena being a girl and little taller and Bex standing just behind her, peeking out shyly from his mother’s skirt. Mina waved and pushed Bex from behind her, though the boy still clutched at the cream cloth in obvious worry. Alena actually walked up to Sasha and Jean before she put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to the side.

“You’re face is funny.” She pointed to Jean. “And you look hungry. Mama!” She ran back to Mina, tugging her skirts.

“We need to give them foods! They haven’t eaten! I can hear their bellies grumbling.” Mina stifled a laugh and nodded, picking up Bex as Alena was scooped into Tay’s arms, rubbing noses with their daughter.

“Well, we shall give them as much food as we can, yes?” She nodded, giggling. The squad just looked at each other, the idea so surreal.

“Yes, Alena, they will be well fed. Emily and, oh, where’s Mia?” Fatima asked another dark skinned woman who pointed to the platform.

“She is back on the platform, helping Luna and Luke get boats.”

“Ah, then you will meet her sister soon. But this is Emily, my daughter. She is a very good fisher and she has helped build some of the best boats on this platform. Mia is a painter and a member of the explorers, working on maps.” Emily was blushing at her mother’s praise, tugging at her loose pants and fiddling with the edge of her pale shirt.

“Next is Luke, a boat builder and architect. He is not here, but you will see him soon enough. Ah, and then we have Heva and John, our scholars. They keep a written record of all that we know and remember the stories that were not written or saved.” The teenage girl, Heva, couldn’t have been older than seventeen but she looked to be about Levi’s size, giving her the appearance of someone much younger. Her soft red hair fell in messy ringlets where it escaped the bun and she waved, a little shy. Her green eyes were bright with intelligence however, and she looked over the group with a critical eye. John looked a little older, maybe twenty, with deep brown, shaggy hair that curled around his ears and a beard that looked like it was a few days old. He looked quite muscular but the same intelligence lit up his hazel eyes and his light brown skin was covered in black tattoos.

“Nice to meet you all.” The group nodded back, still stunned. Bex struggled in Mina’s arms, obviously wanting to be let down and when he was, he went over to Connie and looked at him shyly, head titled to the side. Connie, not knowing what else he should do, knelt so they were eye level.

“What’s that?” The boy pointed to the horses behind them, still snorting and shaking out their manes.

“Huh? Oh, uh these are horses.” Bex’s eyes light up and Heva came closer, curoisity making her green eyes burn.

“C-can I touch her?” she asked, tone revenant. Hanji seemed to have snapped from their daze and pulled the woman closer to Sterling, laying her hand on the horses grey neck. Heva flinched when Sterling moved his head to look at her, his neck flexing under her hand but then she gasped, running her hands all over the muscle and then up to his mane.

“This big boy is Sterling and he’s such a good boy, yes he is.” Hanji cooed, scratching his cheek gently. Armin walked over to Heva and smiled, shy and shaky, but his blue eyes were calculating.

“Have you never-”

“No, never.” Heva breathed, looking in awe at the horses, gently running her fingers through the coarse hair.

“It’s coarse… But it looks so soft. John, come here and touch… Sterling, right?” Hanji smiled and nodded as the other scholar came closer, obviously more cautious of the two.

“Are they all this big?” He asked, coming to stand beside Hanji.

“Nope. Some are tiny, and others are much more muscular. But the Scouting Regiment’s horses are special.” Hanji stated proudly.

“What’s on their backs?” Alena asked, having gotten out of her father’s arms and jogged to stand beside her twin.

“A saddle. You ride horses.” Her eyes were bright with fascination but then she titled her head to the side.

“How?” Armin looked at Jean who seemed a little confused before the blonde motioned to his horse and then to Alena.

“Oh.” he smiled and swung into his saddle.

“Like this.” Her mouth dropped open and she craned her head back to look at Jean.

“Woah…” Hanji suddenly swooped up behind Alena and plopped her in front of Jean. She squeaked, looking terrified. Then, before anyone knew what was happening, Jean was nudging Malevolent into a walk, one arm wrapped around Alena’s middle before the mare picked up the pace and went into a trot, strutting away from the group and then turning back after about twenty feet. The adults stood in silent awe, though Tay obviously looked worried.  
When the duo came back, Jean was holding onto Alena, who was clutching to his arm but she was laughing, despite the white knuckled grip she had.

“We’re so far off the ground….” A tension broke in the group as Alena turned to Jean and asked,

“Can I go again?” Had any other child asked, Jean would have made them get off but the sad eyes she gave him made his heart melt just a little and so he sighed but nodded and kicked Malevolent back into a trot. Sasha turned to Bex, who was watching, silent, and asked with a smile,

“Do you want to take a turn too?” He nodded, hesitant, and she grinned before she mounted her own horse and Connie lifted Bex in front of her before the pair took off, much faster than Jean and Alena. Sasha started off at a trot then kicked her mare, Mirah, into a canter and took off like an arrow from a high power long bow. They passed Jean and were quickly specks in the distance before coming back, albeit at a much slower pace. The adults began to mingle with the Scouts, talking and asking questions. The Scouts still didn’t fully trust the other human group but they were more relaxed. It was as if a barrier had been shattered, leaving less between them.

“Are you a scientist as well?” John was asking Hanji as Heva struck up conversation with Armin.

“Your friends will be fine, I promise.” Fatima was saying to Erwin and Mike, who were conversing between themselves. Emily, Tay, Mina and Ana had started talking with Connie and Moblit about the horses themselves and why Connie had no hair. At the same time that Sasha, Jean, Alena and Bex returned, Luke, Mia and Luna returned, each pushing a large, flat bottomed boat with thick, long rods. Each boat was roughly ten feet long and six feet wide, with two foot, barrel like sides that met in a slope at the front and back, though both ends seemed to concave to meet at a point.

“These boats can possibly hold your horses, but if they can’t, can your horses swim?” Tay asked as he moved to help pull them into the shallows.

“That shouldn’t be hard. As long as they can get onto a ramp when we get to these platforms, I don’t think there’ll be a problem.” Hanji said, sizing up the boats.

“Luke was it? Can you take the horses out to the platform?” Erwin asked the tall brunet who nodded. He was sizing up the horse and then nodded to himself.

“We’ve caught some fish that are big as that beast. And carted them in these shallows, so the beast shouldn’t be a problem. Just gotta take one at a time.”

“Luke, Mia, would you mind taking the horses to the platform?” Fatima asked and the man shrugged. Mia nodded, her looks identical to her sister, side from her hair, which instead of being a cloud like her mothers and sister, was tied back in small braids and those were all gathered into a bun at the base of her skull. She smiled, wide and friendly, as she introduced herself to Moblit and Hanji, who were standing closest.

“No problem. Any of ya’ll want to help-”

“Oh, me please!” Hanji jumped at the opportunity and Moblit sighed. Well, he wasn’t going to be going to sleep for at least another two hours. He huffed and then, resigned to his fate, began to lead Sterling to Luke. While the trio worked out the best way to get the horses across in the least amount of time, Fatimia turned to the rest of the group.

“We can fit in two boats, I believe. I shall swim back with Ana. Luna, can you take these people back to the platform or do you want help?” The woman was short and willowy, with short auburn hair loose, falling to her shoulders. She had freckles across her nose and she cast a critical eye over the small regiment, face expressionless. Finally, she said,

“Sure, no problem. I’m Luna Carter, nice to meet you.” she jumped out of the boat and waded through the shallow water to the coast and stuck out her hand for Erwin to shake. He looked at it for a moment before shaking her hand, looking a little more relaxed but no less stunned. Luna grinned, walking back to the boat, and threw over her shoulder,

“Come on then. I don’t bite.” A pause before her grin turned wolfish as she added,

“Often.” Erwin huffed, suddenly reminded of Hanji and shook his head. This was insane and unbelievable but he couldn’t care. They were all exhausted and they had found people that weren’t Titans or shifters, like Eren or the whole clan of shifters. And they were outside the walls. He could think on this all later when he wasn’t half exhausted, which he hadn’t even noticed, and when his squad were all safe. Mike put a hand on his shoulder, a calm, quiet support and he sighed. They piled into the boat carefully and when they got to the platform, stumbled off, legs shaking from the constant movement.

“How are we supposed to walk…” Sasha said, trying to find her balance for a moment as Connie tried to steady her out.

“Come, this way.” Fatima said, leading the group towards a two story home. They looked around in wonder; somehow these platforms were able to stay above the water and were actually quite large. But they were also surprisingly barren. Fatima must have caught onto the confusion and explained as she open the doors to the large home,

“We don’t always stay on these platforms; only for a few months out of the year when the Titans are nearby. We will show you when the week is over where we usually live; it is an island not too far from here. But we can talk more later. For now, you rest.” She lead them through a connected room, a fire pit, table and front room all connected in one room. She lead them up a short flight of stairs to a large room, filled with pillows and blankets.

“We don’t use beds on the platform, since we only use them every few months. Instead, we sleep on blankets and pillows. I will come and wake you all in a few hours. But for now, rest.” The group nodded, just noticing the relief that they were, at least vaguely, safe. Sasha let her ODM gear drop and threw herself onto the first pile she found and curled up in warm wool blankets, Connie following her. Armin and Jean settled down not too far away when Mikasa suddenly appeared and looked around the room before finding the duo and curled up, clutching at her scarf. No one asked her questions; she would speak on her own time when they were all coherent.  
Erwin and Mike took to sleeping back to back in front of the group and even though they had all removed their ODM gear and blades, Mike’s hand was still curled around the handle to one, blade not too far away. Erwin fell asleep the instant his head hit the pillow. He didn’t even hear Hanji and Moblit as they stumbled up the stairs roughly an hour later, looking exhausted but at least a little bit satisfied before they too curled up to sleep. It had been a rough couple days.

Fatima came up two hours later, looking to wake the group up before she stopped and smiled, shaking her head. They could sleep just a little bit longer. It was obvious they were overwhemled. She made a mental note to keep large groups away from their new visitors; they were indeed much like skittish animals. Close to biting anyone who came close that they didn’t recognize, even with the foundations of trust beginning to build.

“Mia, will you go to Tay and Mina’s home and ask them to bring over some more bread? And tell Jinny and Xiao that we will need more food. These poor souls are starving for a real meal.” Her daughter nodded and jogged out of the home, bare feet hitting the platform with barely a sound. Fatima returned to busying herself in setting up the lower floor for her guests to eat, humming as she did. It was good to find more humans, no matter what they thought originally of her small group. There were other three other platforms and then they too would meet the group. There was much to be done and only so much time to do it. She smiled and went outside, grabbing her basket. She had a market to go to and a doctor to check in on.


	4. I'll Never Let You Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Answers and questions abound! What are the people living on the ocean? How did the Scouting Regiment find them? And what is going on between Levi and Eren?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! Due to the sudden influx of comment's I have received, I have decided to give you all a, ah, sneak peek into the next chapter. PTSD nightmares, feels, sickness and explanations! Finally! Remember this is just a sneak peek and when my finals week is over, I will post the rest of the chapter, so I hope this will tide you over till then! Read the end notes to have a few questions answered. Ah, this fic is also under a constant state of revision, meaning that I am constantly reading through it to find spelling, grammar and plot mistakes. If you see any or find that a part of the story that you like is suddenly missing, leave me a comment and I will get to fixing it asap! Okay, enough from me. On with the story!  
> No, wait, I lied.  
> DISCLAIMER!!!!! I OWN NOTHING. ALL CHARACTERS AND PLOT FOR SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN or ATTACK ON TITAN BELONGS TO HAJIME ISAYAMA and the IDEA FOR THIS FIC BELONGS TO ALLIE-CHAN. I OWN NOTHING, aside from the OC's and the plot line. I OWN NOTHING!!!!
> 
> Okay, NOW on with the story. I hope that you enjoy it!
> 
> -RR

Malik pushed his hair back into a messy bun, tying it off with a cord of leather in order to keep it from his eyes. Eren’s body was swinging wildly between hot and cold, alternating between extreme fever with a worrying loud rattle in his chest to shivering so violently that Malik was half worried the teen was going to break apart. Levi wasn’t even moving, not so much as a twitch. Malik stopped grinding herbs for a moment to check the man’s pulse just to make sure he was still alive. There was a powerful thump-thump against his fingertips and Levi twitched, barely and it was his eyebrow, but it was a reaction. Malik huffed a laugh and shook his head before turned back to the pestle and mortar.

“I hate it when Felicia and Dustin aren’t here…” the doctor muttered, looking over the book he had propped open. The crinkled pages from exposure to sea air rustled at a gust from the window but did no more, not with the stones holding down the bottom corners and the clips keeping the pages from flying one direction or another. The diagram of lungs and bronchial tubes on one page, the neat handwritten notes in the margin annotating the printed words where they had become worn as well as adding several helpful side comments about various treatments. Malik could feel a smile tug at his lips; Felicia, his apprentice, was quite adept at finding new treatments but left notes in the book instead of her sheets. He never bothered to correct her. They all learned at a different pace, so why try to conform it?

“Malik, I found some fever yew!” a breathless voice came from the doorway, and he looked up from his work to see Felicia, half bent over, but the plant gripped victoriously in her hand. Her cloud of russet brown hair was slicked back with water and sweat, meaning she had gone to the beach and searched for it along the surrounding coastline, in spite of the Titans. Malik nodded, brow furrowing as Eren started to let out a wheezing cough. Felicia’s tan skin went pale as interest spiked in her amber eyes, jaw dropping. She pointed a wavering finger at the pair of sleeping men, creeping closer so not to wake them. 

“A-a-are those two-”

“Yes, human. Now shut up and help me! He has congestion in his lungs, possibly bronchitis and not to mention to fever and wildly changing body temperature. He’ll be lucky if he survives the night.”

“Malik-” Felicia sounded a little worried, as if her mentor were giving up, but she snapped her mouth shut when she saw the burning look in his eyes.

“I’ll be damned if I let this one die on me. Get me some of our medicines, from the emergency stores. And while you’re at it, where the hell is your brother?” Felicia knew that Malik was just worried about the abnormality of the sick man's body and let it slide at how fast he was snapping.

“Dus? He’s out at the market still like you asked him. He’s getting more supplies since we’ll be landing soon, but we were running low on-” whatever she was about to say was cut off when Eren started to thrash about on the cot, scratching and clawing at his arms and chest. Malik sprang into action; he grabbed the young shifters arms and pressed his elbows over Eren’s arching chest, applying enough pressure to keep his upper body still.

“Felicia, medicine. Sleep, now!” he snapped, gritting his teeth at the unexpected strength from the younger male. He looked over at Levi, but the man was still out cold. He would have to wake him up soon if only to make sure Levi hadn’t slipped into a coma. It had been three hours since he came to the small medical house and in all that time, the most response Malik had gotten from him was when he checked Levi’s pulse. Pounding feet brought Malik from his thoughts just as Eren began to cry out, eyes open and unseeing but filled with an unspeakable sadness, anger and terror. As if there was nothing else left for him to live for, or he had seen Hell and lived through it to tell the tale. Malik would wager a month of no patients that the group they had found had seen so much worse.

“Eren, hey Eren! It’s a dream, it’s okay!” Felicia was preparing a syringe just as Levi roused. Only, it wasn’t in a way that Malik expected. Instead of groggy and slow, the man was on his feet and at Eren’s side before Malik could blink and took Eren’s shoulder’s in a strong grip. Malik moved to give the man more room and pulled Felicia back with him. The seventeen-year-old looked at Malik first then Levi, eyes going wide before she returned to pulling the medicine into the syringe. Levi gave her such a look that Malik was a little surprised neither of them had combusted. Then Eren jerked and let out a scream of pain, as if there were something trying to stab him, slowly, painfully. 

“Eren, listen to me. You’re okay, you’re alive. You’re not there. I promise you.” The soothing voice the shorter man was using seemed to calm Eren down and in a matter of seconds, he was awake, gasping for shuddering breath. Levi looked a little surprised as Eren jolted upwards when he saw Levi and then proceeded to attach himself to the man, arms wrapped tight around his neck. Slowly, Levi put a hand on his back and a hand in his hair, voice just a murmur now. Levi’s head rested on Eren’s shoulder as Eren buried his face in Levi's shoulder. Malik took note of how Levi was using his body as a physical shield as if he could protect the younger man from the dreams and whatever else haunted him, as if he had the strength to hold them both up. Some of the words Malik could pick up, if he strained his hearing, were,

“It’s okay, Eren. I’m right here. There’s nothing to be afraid of. You're safe. You’re not there. I’m right here.” Malik froze when Levi lifted his head, still not looking at him, his eyes were closed, as he rested his chin on Eren’s bowed head. His arms tightened as the man’s shoulders began to shake, silent tears staining his shirt. Felicia was staring at the supposedly emotionless man comfort the taller, broken man, confusion and worry etched into her face like a sculptures features. They both heard when Levi said,

“I won’t let you go. I won’t leave you, Eren.”

Malik didn’t need a look to know when to clear out, and so grabbed Felicia’s arm and gently steered her towards the other room where he could begin to prepare a sleeping-draught for Eren.

“Malik, who are those two? Where did they come from?” Felicia asked when she finally found her voice, bottle and syringe forgotten in her grip.

“I don’t know where they came from, none of us do. But Fatimia and their leader, a blonde, trusted me with those two,” Malik jerked his head in the direction of the other room, “And I do not intend to allow either them, their companions or any of our people to be harmed. We’re human and even if they hide secrets, we will build a foundation of trust and learn. At least, that’s what Fatimia said before Eren passed out. They’ve been through worse than Hell, Felicia, so make sure that you don’t prod unless they start feeling comfortable around us, got it?” He gave the nosy teen a pointed look and she nodded, looking a little sheepish.

“Yes, Malik.” she said, setting the syringe down in favor of turning down the burner and settling the simmering concoction.

“Good.” the sudden voice made both jump a little and they turned to see Levi leaning against the door frame. He nodded at Eren, who was laying still, now underneath Levi’s jacket.

“He’s asleep, finally. How is he doing?” Levi asked, tone bland but Malik considered himself a good judge of person and could read just about anyone. His lips were pulled a little further down than when he had first met the man and his brow was crinkled, arms cross over his chest. The worry was a tangible force, lighting his slate grey eyes and making them burn. He cared deeply about the man and how deep that would go, Malik was curious to find out. The sweet, mid March air from the sea cooled his neck and set his mind back at the tasks at hand. He watched Levi, who watched as Felicia went back to Eren's side, hands fluttering over his face and neck, concentration making her brow scrunch. She removed Levi's jacket and pulled off Eren's shirt, looking over his chest at the scars for signs of infections. Malik felt a burst of pride at his apprentice, even though he had already run through a physical examination, or as best as he could with Eren unconscious and twitching. She was looking for any other reasons why he could be so sick, namely infections or old wounds that reopened and were left unattended. He turned his attention back to Levi and explained,

“He’s swinging between extremely feverish and extremely cold, making it difficult to regulate his body temperature. How hot is he normally? A normal human, internally, would be fried by now. And what’s with the bite marks at his thumb?” Malik looked at Levi, waiting for the man to answer. His face had gone blank, not that it was overly expressive to being with, but it was almost eerily fast. However, before Levi could even open his mouth, Felicia hit herself in the forehead and laughed, shaking her head. She held Eren's hand in her own, checking his pulse. She had put his shirt back on, but Eren refused to let go of Levi's jacket, which, Malik noted, was clutched in his free hand. 

“Malik, he’s like Luna and Quinton! He’s a shifter; no wonder he’s so hot, even for a fever. Look at the scars on his hand, he bites himself to transform, like Snori.” Levi’s mouth opened a little in obvious shock and Malik’s eyes widened in realization.

“Of course! That explains why nothing has been working! Good work, Felicia. Oh, right. Felicia, Levi. Levi, Felicia my apprentice. Felicia, go and find the feverfew you just brought in and the medicines we set aside for Luna and Quin. There should be enough. If we can get his Titan’s body heat under control, then we can treat the bronchitis with the human medications we have.”

“Right,” she said, nodding before giving Levi a smile and running out the door. The man hadn’t moved an inch though Malik saw something uncoil from his shoulders as if invisible stress had been removed from his mind.

“There are more?” Malik knew what the obviously stunned man meant.

“Oh yes. Luna and Quinton. Well, they’re the two on this platform. We have ten total. Four were found, just wandering the lands along the coast and the other six were born, their mothers given pills to take during the pregnancy to see if the transformation were possible, with low risk to the mothers of course and it was by their own will to take part. The notes are with Richard. Here, come and sit down.” He guided Levi to sit, who complied without so much as a glare. He looked to be in a state of shock.

“Take off your shirt.” That got a reaction, though it was Levi’s fingers working to undo the belts that covered his shoulders, setting the gear on the table beside the chair and then unbuttoning his shirt. He folded it up neatly and brushed away the imaginary dust. He turned back to Malik, waiting.

“Sit, I’m running a brief physical over you. Heart rate and such. Breathe deep.” Malik took out a stethoscope and pressed it to Levi’s chest. He looked a little startled by the sudden change in conversation and other than a tensing in his shoulders when he got close, Levi did as he asked. After having him breathe a few more times, then having him stand so he could get to his back, and then breathe deeply a few more times, Malik pulled away, satisfied.

“Your heart is faster than normal. Why? Are shifters not common?”

“You could say that…” Levi muttered, shaking his head as he pulled back on his shirt and gear. Malik had moved back to the table and was checking the burner and the glass vials, nodding to himself before picking up the third vial in the row and swirling its contents and replacing it.

“What was that?” Malik asked, looking up.

“You could say that,” Levi repeated. “First the ocean and now more shifters? Christ, Hanji is going to have a goddamn field day.”

“Oh? Why?” Malik picked up the first vial and slowly poured the contents into the third, stopping when the liquids turned a muddy green. Levi didn’t answer, simply stared at the open expanse of the ocean through the window, thoughts far away.

“Perfect,” Malik said, plucking it from the clasp and walking briskly back to Eren’s side. Levi noticed the change in movement and atmosphere immediately and reacted, following a literal pace behind him, looking both lost in thought and attentive.

“What?”

“This should help him sleep without screaming and having nightmares. How did the seeds work, by the way? Did you sleep well?”

“Fine,” Levi grunted, watching Malik like an Osprey or a shark, silver eyes sharp enough to cut. He was fully aware of everything now, of that Malik had no doubt.

“That’s great to hear!” Felicia exclaimed as she came in, carrying a nearly full syringe. Levi had to step out of her way to avoid being stabbed as she began to speak rapid fire, hands moving about as she gesticulated. It was like talking to a younger Hanji.

“How did they work for you? How long were you asleep for? Did you have any dreams? Are you groggy or tired in any way, or are you fully able to control your body? How many did you take-”

“Felicia, remember what I talked about?” Malik said, patient, and the teen nodded, sheepish before a business mask slipped over her face and Felicia turned to Eren. She took his arm and stabbed the needle through the skin, slowly plunging the solution into his arm. Soon as she finished and had pulled the needle free, Malik propped Eren’s head up and began to slowly the pour the mixture down his throat, pausing for a few seconds as he waited for Eren’s throat to work, watching it for a visible swallow before pouring more. When the tube was completely drained, Malik stood again and grabbed a shallow tin mug and poured it’s contents into Eren’s mouth slowly, watching his throat much like before, the water chasing the sleeping draught.

“What was that?” There was curiosity and caution in the undertone of that bland monotone.

‘ _Interesting._ ’ Malik thought before Felicia turned to face the older man and explained,

“Water. He’s going to wake up disoriented, so there’s no need for him to be dehydrated as well. Here, you should drink as well.” Felicia grabbed a metal mug herself and holding it out for Levi to take. Levi would have normally refused but the surprisingly crisp smell that came from the tin Felicia was offering him coupled with the aching burn at the back of his throat made him pause before he finally took it. Gripping it around the rim, he took a cautious sip, waiting for some trick. When crisp, fresh water washed over his tongue, wetting his dry mouth, he drank more until the mug was finally empty. Felicia and Malik, he noticed, were watching him with an almost unsettling intensity. A raised eyebrow was the only reaction they received. No answer. Levi huffed quietly.

“Where are the others.” it was a statement.

“They should be with Fatima. Felicia, I can manage here. Go and show Levi where her house is-”

“I’m not leaving without Eren.” he cut in before Malik could finish that thought.

“If you’re worried about him shifting, he’s so deep under that it would take him drowning to wake up.”

“No. I’m not leaving, simple as that. It’s my job to protect and watch him.” Malik chuckled and nodded in understanding. Levi, on the other hand, seemed to miss the humor and levelled another glare at the doctor.

“Huh? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. You care a lot about Eren.”

“As much as any of the other idiots in the group that I apparently have to call a squad.”

“Lying is a bad habit.” Levi looked at the other man, startled. Malik took in the slight tense of his shoulders, the frown pulling a little deeper. Ah, how he loved being able to read people.

“What?” bland monotone again.

“What is Eren to you? Commanding officer or not, you don’t seem to be the kind of person who would stick around for a kid who wasn’t worth much to you personally.” His tone was serious, not edged with the slight teasing or gentle edge it had minutes ago.

“... He’s not a kid. Not with what we’ve been through.” Was all Levi offered as an answer and Malik looked satisfied, a smile pulling light into his deep brown eyes.

“Well, good then. Felicia, Fatima should be at her house with her guests-”

“Well I was but I thought I’d visit while they were asleep.” A new voice came from the doorway and the tall woman came in, basket with bread, some fruit, and a few napkins wrapped around something-- probably fish, Malik guessed-- slung over her arm. She gave the wary Levi a nod and a smile before asking,

“How is your friend doing? Ah, and what is your name?”

“Captain Levi Ackerman. And Eren is asleep.” His stance was little more guarded, tone clipped.

“You just woke up fifteen minutes go, Levi.” Malik pointed out with a small smirk, fine eyebrow quirking upwards. “Eren’s body temperature has been swinging between extremely feverish and freezing cold. I have yet to find the cause for it, but he’s suffering from mild bronchitis and mild hyperthermia, which may develop into pneumonia. Felicia figured out that he’s like Quin and Luna, which may be the reason for the strange temperature swings.” Fatima’s eyebrows shot upwards and Levi’s stance shifted to stand a bit more protectively in front of Eren, hand dropping to the metal mug he had just put down. Fatima noticed this and lowered her eyebrows though surprise was still written across her face.

“Well, that’s certainly a surprise. Do you have any medicines left that can bring the body heat under a more controllable temperature or should I send for more from the closest platform?”

“No, no, we have enough. We already gave him a double dosage of the medicine to be safe. Although I don’t think that Levi appreciates us talking about him and Eren like they aren’t here. Are the others awake yet?”

“I’m not sure. I was just heading back and decided to stop by and check on these two.” Fatima answered the slim man, moving to sit on a stool beside Eren.

His face was relaxed and peaceful, eyelids still. His breathing still had a harsh rattle at the end, making her frown, but his brow was coated in sweat and his shivers had died down. She nodded in satisfaction; Malik’s medicines always worked fast. Whatever he had given Eren had helped break the fever. He would he okay in no time.

“Well, he seems to be alright. I’m glad. Mikasa came back three hours ago, how did you get her to sleep?”

“I told her that there were too many people surrounding Eren and Levi and that even with her in a corner, the worry wasn’t going to help either of them. And that if she got sick from staying up too late after so long with so little sleep, then she wouldn’t be doing anyone any good. She looked a little annoyed for a minute but agreed pretty quickly after that. She actually didn’t leave Levi’s side for at least fifteen minutes and she caught him before he fell. I was in the other room, sorry about that.” Levi waved away the apology with a roll of his eyes and a shrug. Malik took that as an ‘ _it’s okay, I don’t care_ ’ gesture and left it at that.

Fatima opened her mouth, about to speak, when a low grumble came from someone’s stomach. Levi’s face didn’t shift in expression though the barest hint of pink was at the very edges of his ears. Felicia chose that exact moment to come back in, Malik hadn’t even noticed when she left, carrying an inch high sea glass bottle with a cork stop, the insomnia seeds filling it.

“Here. I figured that you could use these for sleep.” Levi looked at the bottle with such contempt that Malik was sure it would shatter. Remarkably, Felicia was unaffected and pressed the bottle into his hand.

“Even if you never eat them, one of your friends may want to sleep without nightmares. It’s a good idea to have them.” Levi didn’t seem to want to argue, or he just couldn’t find any reason to, and curled his fingers around the bottle. His stomach growled again, a little louder, this time, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Levi, when was the last time you ate a proper meal?” Felicia asked, eyebrows so far on her forehead he was a little surprised they hadn’t decided to fly off.

“A fortnight ago, probably a little longer.” He said it so casually that Malik’s eyes went wide and he stared at the man, scrutinizing him, looking for any traces of malnourishment. But, aside from his height and maybe his hands shaking the slightest from lack of food and low blood sugar, Malik couldn’t find any. Fatima stood and grabbed Levi’s shoulders tightly, not about to back down and let him retaliate. He looked startled, his mask dropping for a second before it was back in place, but it was like he wasn’t touched often by people he didn’t know. It was enough contact, apparently, to keep him from immediately retaliating, and Levi struck Malik as the kind of man who could take down anything if he so wished. Even Titans.

However, Fatima was a stubborn woman, and strong, and never took 'no' as an answer when it came to someone’s health. She was steering him from his spot beside Eren and out the door before Levi could begin to fight back or protest. She was strong, very strong, and Levi seemed to realize that outside of actually putting up a fight, he wouldn’t break the stubborn woman’s grip. He may be the stronger of the two but there was something about her strength, the way she held his shoulders, that gave him pause. So he didn’t put up too much a fight, physically.

“Oi oi oi! I can’t leave Eren alone, what didn’t you understand about that?”

“He’s a shifter, he’s deep asleep. He’s sick, he’s with a doctor, the best doctor. You are hungry, you will eat with your friends. You are all confused and scared, so we will all explain and trust.” she said as if explaining a simple concept to a child. Levi wanted to argue but before he could, Fatima had reached her home and opened the door, effectively ending his chances of arguing. Levi spun around, fully intending to argue and go watch over Eren when he heard,

“Levi, you’re awake!” He turned and was met with a full force Hanji hug, crushing him to their chest. Levi struggled and flailed for a moment, caught off guard, before he managed to free himself.

“Hanji, what did I say about hugging me?”

“But you looked like such a lost little puppy that I had to, Levi!” at his twitching eyebrow, Hanji grinned widely and instead gestured widely around them at the two-story home.

“Can you believe it?! This is absolutely unheard of and yet, here we are. Armin and I were talking and we started to think of some possibilities-”

“Stop right there.” Jean groaned, coming down the short flight of stairs in the back.

“I just heard “you”, “Armin” and “thinking” in the same sentence. Give me a minute to prepare myself, because that can’t be a good combination.” At Hanji’s indignant noise, Moblit came down as well, arms crossed and eyebrows up.

“Well?”

“It’s nothing terrible!” Hanji tried to defend their self. “We are just thinking about the ocean and how there is an obvious food source of fish but what if there was other food? Are there more animals? There’s more than one kind of fish or they would all have been overfished years ago! Oh, that brings up another question, how long have you been out here? Where did the platforms come from and do they move? Or is it purely by the ocean’s movement? And how does the ocean move? There were large crashes of waves out last night, do they ever change? Is there a time when the ocean is still? Can-”

“Hanji, I think we should let her speak and answer one question before you ask another.” Erwin’s voice stopped the scientist from launching another barrage at their host and they frowned before sighing and relenting.

“Alright, fine.”

Fatima waved off the concern but walked inside to the kitchen area, setting down the basket, where Mia and Emily and a tall lighter skinned man were milling about. The man pressed a kiss to Fatima’s cheek with a soft smile and a “Welcome back.” and nod in the group’s direction before he took out the fish and began to prepare them for the pan. Fatimia hugged both her daughters before she came back to the sitting room and settled herself. 

“Come, sit,” she gestured to the low-sitting table on the floor and the spaces that were obviously for them to sit at, and the group slowly situated themselves. Levi stayed at the end facing the door and the kitchen, arms crossed and face impassive, but every one of the Scouts could tell he was interested. Hanji was almost vibrating with excitement as Erwin sat, calmly as he could, beside them. Moblit was on their other side, hands twitching as he looked around. Jean, Armin, Connie and Sasha were all sitting beside each other, closest to Fatima. Mikasa sat near Levi, face impassive as her cousin, but there was a distinct lack of glaring so she was obviously more at ease than she was letting on. Levi settled more and waited, elbow propped on the table as his chin rested in his hand.  

“To answer some of your questions, we have been here for two centuries. Well, we’ve had the platforms for two centuries. We’ve been living on the islands not too far from here for about a century. The Titans cannot swim, even the abnormals, but when they manage to get to the islands when the tide is at its lowest, we take to the platforms for three to five months and then return.”

“That shitty doctor said that there were more people like Eren, more shifters,” Levi interjected, making every one of the Scouts look at him, then Fatimia. She nodded, slowly as the man came into the room.

“Yes, it’s true. Hello, I am Quinton, a shifter. I am Fatima’s husband, and father to Mia and Emily. What would you like to know?” Hanji actually looked to be in shock. Moblit waved a hand in front of their face, eyes wide with concern and voice tinged with mild panic as he asked,

“Hanji? Hanji? Oh god, Hanji, don’t break down now. Hello?” They didn’t so much as blink. Erwin was looking at Fatima and Quinton like they were impossible as the younger Scouts wore expressions ranging from blank, Mikasa, to excitement, which was lighting Armin’s sky blue eyes with such a fire Jean had to edge away from him a little. Levi looked bored, but there was something about the air around him that made even Mikasa shift, just a little.

“Were you going to tell us this at some point?” Erwin asked, having finally found his voice after several minutes of dead silence.

“Yes.” The answer was steady, honest. “I meant what I said when we would tell you everything. We have ten shifters, my husband, Luna, and then eight more scattered on the other three platforms. Some had mothers who agreed to take pills or injections for nine months while pregnant. Six of the shifters were created this way, my husband included. Luna is among the other four who were wandering about the coast one season, now about ten years ago. Richard, the man who works with John and Heva, has the exact notes on the Shifters.”

“What do you use their powers for?” Hanji asked, having finally found their voice.

“Well, when we must return to the islands, any remaining Titans are killed by them. The bones, if they don’t disintegrate fully, are burned. The four from the coastline, as well as those born, like my husband, are free to do with their lives, so long as it remains within our laws. But anything inside those laws is free game, so to speak. My husband acts a farmer when we are on the island and a carpenter when we are on land. Luna is a geographer and fisherman. Fran is a writer, Tristen is an artist and engineer. Yu is a wonderful baker and scientist. She told me once that she took up baking because it was so like her science. Yemi is another doctor and his husband, Ayame, is an engineer and works closely with Tristen. Snori is a fisherman and a farmer. Akira is a scholar and an explorer, and Yasmine is a little of everything, though her strongest suits are gardening, exploring and being a scholar. Does this set you more at ease?”

“Yes, thank you.” Erwin seemed to deflate, just a little. Mike propped him up a little and Armin cast a worried look at the usually sharp commander. The moment passed, however, as Erwin opened his eyes and straightened himself out.

“You’ve told us some of your society, so we shall explain some of ours. We are the Scouting Legion, or part of it. I am Commander Erwin Smith and these people here with us are the elite squad. Hanji and Moblit are our best and brightest scientists and Mike is technically second-in-command. Levi is the squad Captain and every person under his leadership are strong enough to survive in the world beyond the Walls.”

“The Walls are where the surviving percent of the human race are currently living. Walls Maria, Rose and Sina have been built two centuries ago by an architect in order to protect what little of the human race was left. However, about ten years ago, the Walls were breached and Titans took over Wall Maria. The rest of the human race either fled to Wall Rose or perished. The Scouting Legion was formed by the military branch in an attempt to further the human race's chances of survival, to find more territory. When the breach happened, we were tasked with both finding more land and killing as many Titans as we could. We never thought that one failed mission would lead us all the way out here. Out to the ocean…” Hanji stated, voice trailing off as they stared at the ocean through the ever-open window on the opposite side of the room.

“Wait, how long did you travel for?” Fatima asked, dark brown eyes wide.

“Roughly a fortnight, perhaps longer. We decided to continue going forward instead of turning backwards.” Erwin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“It was a month,” Mike spoke for the first time since he had woken up, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

“Well, his nose is better than mine. No nose knows better than Mike's.” The inside joke was greeted with a huff from Mike and a small smirk as Hanji laughed and Moblit shook his head. The younger Scout members giggled or outright laughed. Fatima and her family shared looks with each other, clearly confused, but opting to stay silent and allow their guests these moments of blissful joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, to answer a few questions: 
> 
> 1) Yes, Levi and Eren are that oblivious. They are both emotionally stunted people at times, at least, when it comes to dealing with their own emotions and I wanted to portray that as best I could. 
> 
> 2)... Let's just say there's hella PTSD. And not just for Eren and Levi. 
> 
> 3) Armin and Hanji should never be allowed to plan. Or speak to each other. Let's just say that. 
> 
> 4) Feels. That is all. Lots of feels and angst. Possible smut later. 
> 
> Okay, so to those that have read the end notes, thank you for reading this fic! This is my first time actually writing for the SnK fandom, so I'm a little shaky with the character perspectives, even though I've been invested in this fandom since 2012. If you see any of the characters acting out of character, please drop me a comment. Also, just review in general. I love it and it makes me post faster. if you like my writing and have a Tumblr, I accept prompts and will write flash fictions on my blog, deleriousfromcoffee. Or, if it's a multi-chapter, like this one, I post them to ao3. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story!!
> 
> -RR


	5. Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry....

Alright guys, I'm really sorry but I'm going to be deleting this work. Mostly due to the fact that I've grown tired of writing for a fandom that has become incredibly toxic and several people have attacked me verbally about what I write for it. I know a lot of you were excited for this and I'm so sorry about this but I just can't keep writing for it. So I'm going to abandon it. I'm sorry. I hope that all is well!!

-Rebel Raven

**Author's Note:**

> Points for referencec:   
> 1) Im going out of canon, after Historia is Queen and Armin proclaims they are going to get to the ocean  
> 2) there is a four year gap between their graduation, the time they joined the corps and this fic plotline  
> 3) This is a slow build for all couples execpt Hanji and Moblit, who are already in a relationship  
> 4) This is a multi-chaptered work so I wanted to get them to the ocean in this cahpter instead of dragging along the plot  
> 5) There is going to be feels, emoceans, BAMFness, and everything from the tags as I update, so don't worry  
> 6) I'm sorry again if this chapter sucks; it's the first time I've ever written for AoT and no matter how much I love the fandom, I'm never sure of amy work. BUT I hope you enjoy it as much as I love writing it and comments and kudos make me update faster. Also, any and all purely hateful comments will be thrown out the window. Don't like my work, don't comment. 
> 
> -RR


End file.
